Characterization of Single-Photon Avalanche Diode arrays in 150nm CMOS technology

In this paper, a summary of characterization results from a SPAD test chip is reported. The chip includes test arrays based on two different SPAD structures, having p+/n-well and p-well/n-iso active area. Devices with different shapes and sizes as well as arrays dedicated to cross-talk extraction are present. Measurement results show that SPADs of the second type have a slightly lower Dark Count Rate. The peak Photon Detection Probability (PDP) is larger than 20% at 3V excess bias voltage for both structures. The average cross-talk probability between neighbors in SPAD arrays with 15.6μm pitch and 40% fill factor is less than 0.6% at 3V excess bias voltage for the first structure, while it is around 2.3% for the second one.