Characterization of an InGaAs/InP-based single-photon avalanche diode with gated-passive quenching with active reset circuit

An improved gated-mode passive quenching with active reset (gated-PQAR) circuit is utilized in conjunction with an InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche photodiode (SPAD). Photon detection efficiency (PDE) and dark count probability (DCP) were measured at a gate repetition rate of 1 MHz. The reduced afterpulsing afforded by the gated-PQAR circuit enabled measurement of afterpulsing for hold-off times as short as 10 ns. The timing resolution (jitter) for different excess biases has also been investigated. At 230 K and an excess bias of 2.5 V, 0.3% afterpulse probability for a 10 ns hold-off time was achieved with 13% PDE, 2 × 10−6 DCP, 160 ps jitter, and 0.2 ns effective gate width. For the same hold-off time, at a higher excess bias of 3.5 V, 30% PDE, 1 × 10−5 DCP and 120 ps jitter were achieved with 7% afterpulse probability with an effective gate width of 0.7 ns.