Temperature Dependence of Dark Count Rate and After Pulsing of a Single-Photon Avalanche Diode with an Integrated Active Quenching Circuit in 0.35 μm CMOS

The temperature dependence of a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) with an integrated quencher in 0.35 mu m CMOS is investigated. While the dark count rate strongly decreases with decreasing temperature, the after-pulsing probability (APP) does not change a lot in the investigated temperature range from -40 degrees C to 50 degrees C, although the dead time of the active quenching circuit (AQC) is only 9.5 ns. This and the measured histograms of the interarrival time (IAT) suggest that the traps involved have a very short lifetime, which is not strongly temperature dependent, or alternatively that the traps are not the main source of after pulses in the investigated device. Consequently, it may be necessary to find another explanation for the after pulses.