Studies on multiplication effect of noises of PPDs, and a proposal of a new structure to improve the performance

Pixelated Photon Detectors (PPDs) are arrayed APDs operated in Geiger-mode. Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) is a PPD produced by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. Test of dark noise rate of a 1600 pixel MPPC as a function of over-voltage at room temperature indicates that the over-voltage is limited up to a few volts because of explosive increase of noise rate. The over-voltage dependence of random noise rate is nevertheless mostly linear. We confirmed this is due to multiplication effect of noises because of after-pulsing and crosstalk. Over-voltage dependence of random noise and photon detection efficiency are qualitatively different. Considering the electric field structure of MPPC (p-on-n type) and Geiger-efficiency as a function of the position of initial pair creation, these characteristics are possible to be understood. One suggestion for p-on-n type PPD from these results is narrowing the depletion layer below the multiplication layer to reduce random noise and after-pulsing. Another proposal is to put additional buffer capacitance parallel to the diode to accomplish higher gain with lower over-voltage simultaneously with lower noise rate.