Abstract:
A 32×32 Geiger-mode silicon laser focal plane array detector was developed for the long-distance or weak-laser detection of the 3-D imaging system using the wavelength in range of 350 nm~1100 nm. This detector is mainly composed of silicon avalanche photodiode array, readout circuit chips, microlens arrays, semiconductor refrigerators, and pin-grid array shells. The silicon avalanche photodiode focal plane arrays, adopts the structure of pull through N
+-Π
1-P
--Π
2-P
+ and works at the Geiger mode. The processing of thin photosensitive areas has been achieved through Si wafer back polishing and blind hole etching technology. An active-quenching-mode design was adopted to control the dead time of the circuit unit within 50 ns. An optimized time-to-digital converter circuit scheme with phase shift technology was used to achieve a time resolution within 2 ns while reducing the power consumption of the readout circuit chip. The results show that under the conditions of reverse bias voltage of 14 V and operating temperature of -40 ℃, the detector can achieve an average photon detection efficiency of 20.7% and an average dark counting rate of 0.59 kHz at the target wavelength of 850 nm, with a time resolution of 1 ns and an effective pixel rate better than 97%. This study provides a reference for the development of thin-type back-illuminated silicon-based laser focal plane detectors.