Failure modes of large surface avalanche photo diodes in high-energy physics environments

Large area avalanche photo diodes (APD), a new and very promising type of light detector, were tested at high gain on a beam line and suddenly failed. A detailed study of the failure modes showed that these dc vices, if used at low gain and with special carl, may actually be used in high-energy physics environments and indicates the road of development toward radiation hard, large area APDs, No problem was found when APDs are operated in absence of highly ionizing particles. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.