Experimental Determination of the Gain Distribution of an Avalanche Photodiode at Low Gains

TL;DR

This paper presents a measurement system using an ultralow-noise amplifier to accurately determine the gain distribution of avalanche photodiodes at low gains, confirming the McIntyre theory in this range.

Contribution

It introduces a novel measurement system capable of characterizing APD gain distributions at low gains with high precision.

Findings

Gain distribution data for a commercial Si APD at low gains

Validation of McIntyre theory in the low gain regime

Noise level of the measurement system as low as 4.2 electrons

Abstract

A measurement system for determining the gain distributions of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) in a low gain range is presented. The system is based on an ultralow-noise charge--sensitive amplifier and detects the output carriers from an APD. The noise of the charge--sensitive amplifier is as low as 4.2 electrons at a sampling rate of 200 Hz. The gain distribution of a commercial Si APD with low average gains are presented, demonstrating the McIntyre theory in the low gain range.