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CMOS silicon avalanche photodiodes for NIR light detection: a survey

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Abstract

This paper surveys recent research on CMOS silicon avalanche photodiodes (SiAPD) and presents the design of a SiAPD based photoreceiver dedicated to near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) application. Near-infrared spectroscopy provides an inexpensive, non-invasive, and portable means to image brain function, and is one of the most efficient diagnostic techniques of different neurological diseases. In NIRS system, brain tissue is penetrated by near-infrared (NIR) radiation and the reflected signal is captured by a photodiode. Since the reflected NIR signal has very low amplitude, SiAPD is a better choice than regular photodiode for NIR signal detection due to SiAPD`s ability to amplify the photo generated signal by avalanche multiplication. Design requirements of using CMOS SiAPDs for NIR light detection are discussed, and the challenges of fabricating SiAPDs using standard CMOS process are addressed. Performances of state-of-the-art CMOS SiAPDs with different device structures are summarized and compared. The efficacy of the proposed SiAPD based photoreceiver is confirmed by post layout simulation. Finally, the SiAPD and its associated circuits has been implemented in one chip using 0.35 μm standard CMOS technology for an integrated NIRS system.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polystim Neurotechnologies Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Quebec, H3T 1J4, Canada

    Afrin Sultana, Ehsan Kamrani & Mohamad Sawan

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  1. Afrin Sultana
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  2. Ehsan Kamrani
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Correspondence to Afrin Sultana.

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Sultana, A., Kamrani, E. & Sawan, M. CMOS silicon avalanche photodiodes for NIR light detection: a survey. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 70, 1–13 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-011-9641-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-011-9641-6

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