Speaker
Description
We present results from our ongoing development of Geiger-mode GaN-photodiodes. Motivated by the silicon photomultiplier's great success, our objective is to transfer the silicon-photomultiplier concept - a matrix of individually quenched single-photon avalanche diodes - to GaN and AlGaN. These are wide band-gap III-N semiconductors with much better intrinsic (V)UV sensitivity than silicon, making them interesting photon-detector materials, for example, to detect scintillation light from liquid Xe and Ar detectors.
The purity of III-N semiconductor substrates is now sufficiently high to envision single-photon sensitive photodiodes operating in Geiger mode. And indeed, we successfully fabricated GaN photodiodes and could demonstrate their Geiger-mode characteristics and single-photon sensitivity.
This presentation will discuss the electrical and optical characteristics of our GaN structures and their implications for developing a GaN solid-state photomultiplier.