Sensitvity leap for far ultraviolet single photon avalanche diodes

远紫外单光子雪崩二极管的灵敏度飞跃

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-06409
• 负责人: Charlebois, Serge
• 金额: $ 1.75万
• 依托单位: Université de Sherbrooke
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=679975
• 关键词: Sensitvity; leap; far; ultraviolet; single

The 2015 Nobel prize in physics was awarded for the discovery that neutrinos have mass. But their absolute mass is still unknown. Are neutrinos Majorana fermions, a theoretical particle type which is simultaneously matter and anti-matter? The field of astroparticle physics aims to answer these key questions in the coming years. The required experiments involve huge volumes of liquid Xe or Ar at cryogenic temperatures and 4 to 100 m2 of ultraviolet sensitive photodetectors.***For an instrumentation engineer, this translates into creating a camera that has many m2 of sensitive area to count each of the few ultraviolet photons emitted in all direction by the liquid Xe or Ar scintillation. The technology identified to make this camera is based on Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPAD) made of silicon. I led the fabrication of a unique concept of fully digital photon counting called 3DdSiPM that will make scaling up to many m2 possible. A limiting issue for all silicon based SPAD detectors is the sensitivity of the photodiodes themselves in the VUV range (100-200 nm).***The objective of my research program is to boost the sensitivity of SPAD detectors by at least a factor of three. To do so, special epitaxial techniques suited for mass production will be used to engineer the conduction band profile of the SPAD. This approach has allowed CCDs to perform very well in the VUV range. Antireflection coating of the surface of the SPAD will also be fabricated using the Atomic Layer Deposition technique. This technique can build the extremely thin layers needed to construct the antireflection multilayer structure for very short VUV wavelengths.***Tripling the sensitivity of SPAD based detectors would be a game changer in many astroparticle physics experiments. It will also stimulate the field of medical imaging by enabling new techniques called Time-of-Flight Position-Emission-Tomography (ToF-PET) to make exams faster and the radiation dose lower. **

2015年诺贝尔物理学奖是因为中微子的质量而被授予的。但是他们的绝对质量仍然未知。中微子Majorana fermions是否是一种同时重要和反物质的理论粒子类型？ Astroparticle物理学领域的目的是在未来几年回答这些关键问题。所需的实验涉及在低温温度下大量的液体XE或AR，而4至100平方米的紫外线敏感光电探测器。***对于仪表工程师，这转化为创建一个具有许多敏感区域的相机，以计算少量的少数紫外光子，以少量的紫外光子或液体Xe或Ar Ar Xe刻板化。确定制造该相机的技术基于由硅制成的单个光子雪崩二极管（SPAD）。我领导了一个名为3DDDSIPM的全数字光子计数的独特概念，该概念将使扩展到许多M2。所有基于硅的SPAD探测器的限制问题是光电二极管本身在VUV范围内的敏感性（100-200 nm）。为此，适合批量生产的特殊外延技术将用于设计SPAD的传统带轮廓。这种方法使CCD在VUV范围内表现良好。 Spad表面的抗反射涂层也将使用原子层沉积技术制造。该技术可以构建用于构造非常短的VUV波长的抗反射多层结构所需的极薄层。***将基于SPAD的探测器的灵敏度增加三倍，这将是许多Astroparticle物理实验中的游戏规则改变者。它还将通过启用称为飞行时间的位置发射训练（TOF-PET）的新技术来刺激医学成像领域，以使考试更快，辐射剂量较低。 **