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Large Area, Low Cost Avalanche Photodiodes Using Planar Processing--Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc., 44 Hunt Street, Watertown, MA 02172-4624; 617-926-1167
Dr. Gerald Entine, Principal Investigator
Dr. Gerald Entine, Business Official
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-98ER82650
Amount: $750,000
Silicon avalanche photodiodes (APDs) have the potential of replacing photomultiplier tubes for nuclear physics scintillation spectroscopy applications. However, the use of high gain APDs is limited because manual processing steps make the cost of fabrication too high. This project will investigate the use of planar processing techniques for fabricating large area APDs and APD arrays. This process has no manual steps and is very well suited for economical, large volume production of APDs. During Phase I, large area APDs and arrays using the planar process were successfully fabricated. Planar APDs as large as 13 cm2 were fabricated; these may be largest APDs ever produced. The performance of these new APDs exceeded that of expensive, manually fabricated APDs. Phase II will optimize the planar process for APD fabrication. Simulations of processing and device performance will be conducted and applied to the APD design. Extensive efforts in fabrication and evaluation of APDs are also planned.
Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: Applications include nuclear and high energy physics, synchrotron studies, non destructive evaluation, health physics, space research, nuclear waste monitoring, treaty verification, and medical imaging such as PET, SPECT, and CT.