Geiger-Mode Avalanche Photodiodes in Particle Detection

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes for particle detection, demonstrating their fabrication and testing in a test beam to evaluate their efficiency in this application.

Contribution

It introduces the use of CMOS-fabricated Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode arrays for particle detection, a novel application of this technology.

Findings

Successful fabrication of 1mmx1mm pixel arrays

Initial testing shows promising detection efficiency

Potential for high-precision particle detection

Abstract

It is well known that avalanche photodiodes operated in the Geiger mode above the breakdown voltage offer a virtually infinite sensitivity and time accuracy in the picosecond range that can be used for single photon detection. However, their performance in particle detection remains still unexplored. In this contribution, we are going to expose the different steps that we have taken in order to prove the efficiency of Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes in the aforementioned field. In particular, we will present an array of pixels of 1mmx1mm fabricated with a standard CMOS technology for characterization in a test beam.