The Effect of Radiation Damage on the Charge Collection Efficiency of Silicon Avalanche Photodiodes

Understanding radiation effects on avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is important because they are used in several applications involving harsh radiation environments. APDs are used as photosensors in applications where speed and detection efficiency are critical. Proton irradiation experiments on a commercial off-the-shelf APD demonstrated that the irradiation flux and applied reverse bias have a strong influence on the severity of radiation effects. This is measured using the ion beam induced charge (IBIC) technique in which charge collection efficiency (CCE) describes the signal response from a device. CCE can degrade substantially due to radiation damage, but recent measurements show that certain combinations of irradiation flux and reverse bias can lead to increases in CCE up to 186% +/- 24% for irradiations with 2 MeV protons at a fluence of 6.4 x 10(11) cm(-2). This defect-enhanced charge multiplication (DECM) only appeared when the reverse bias during irradiation ranged from 170 to 1830 V out of a maximum operating bias of 2000 V and the proton flux ranged from 9.8 x 10(7) to 3.4 x 10(9) cm(-2) s(-1). Values outside of either range led to losses in CCE. It is expected that DECM should he encountered in other devices, especially those with sufficiently high electric fields to cause impact ionization.

Automated summary

Understanding the radiation effects on avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is crucial for their applications in harsh radiation environments. Research has shown that certain combinations of irradiation flux and reverse bias can increase the charge collection efficiency (CCE) of APDs, leading to a defect-enhanced charge multiplication (DECM) phenomenon. DECM is expected to occur in other devices with high electric fields causing impact ionization.