Design and device fabrication of silicon single photon avalanche diodes

Silicon Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) have become increasingly important due to a rise in applications requiring very sensitive, low level light detectors. This thesis focuses on the development of a simple monte carlo simulator for the modelling of Si SPADs, along with the fabrication of a Si mesa SPAD. The simulator was validated against experimental and reported Si results. Simulations are performed to compare an n-on-p to a p-on-n SPAD design. These simulations find the n-on-p design offers better timing performance for a given breakdown probability, however the p-on-n design achieves a greater breakdown probability for a given bias. A new temperature-dependent simple monte carlo parameter set is presented for InP APDs. This parameter set is extensively validated from 150-290 K, showing that the simulator is capable of temperature dependent modelling. Finally, a Si mesa SPAD is demonstrated. Follow on work from this thesis could include further development of the simulator to add the simulation of external quenching mechanisms and the validation of the InP parameter set for Geiger-mode simulation. Fabrication of a planar Si SPAD using the same active device structure would allow for the direct comparison of dark current contributions due to the etching process.