A Preliminary Study on the Environmental Dependences of Avalanche Propagation in Silicon

The growing use of single-photon avalanche diodes in strong magnetic fields has spurred an interest in understanding how the environment distorts the avalanche process. In this paper, we extend the multiplication-assisted diffusion avalanche model to include convection from a Lorentzian force caused by a strong magnetic field. Simulations imply that the avalanche is still expected to propagate at a speed of 2√(D/τ), although from a point moving at a velocity given by the convection process. Simulations of quench time differences are compared to experimental results at multiple temperatures and magnetic fields. There is an absolute mismatch between simulations and experimental results of roughly 35%, although the simulations are able to predict the relative shift in quench times ranging from roughly 140 ps at -50 °C to 210 ps at +50 °C. As predicted by the models, no statistically significant shift is observed in avalanche quench time differences between magnetic fields at magnitudes of 0.1 and 9.4 T, regardless of orientation.