Non-linear behaviour of large-area avalanche photodiodes

The characterisation of photodiodes used as photosensors requires a determination of the number of electron-hole pairs produced by scintillation light. One method involves comparing signals produced by X-ray absorptions occurring directly in the avalanche photodiode with the light signals. When the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Fernandes, L. M. P. (author)
Other Authors: Lopes, J. A. M. (author), Monteiro, C. M. B. (author), Santos, J. M. F. dos (author), Morgado, R. E. (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2002
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10316/4501
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:estudogeral.sib.uc.pt:10316/4501
Description
Summary:The characterisation of photodiodes used as photosensors requires a determination of the number of electron-hole pairs produced by scintillation light. One method involves comparing signals produced by X-ray absorptions occurring directly in the avalanche photodiode with the light signals. When the light is derived from light-emitting diodes in the 400-600 nm range, significant non-linear behaviour is reported. In the present work, we extend the study of the linear behaviour to large-area avalanche photodiodes, of Advanced Photonix, used as photosensors of the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) scintillation light produced by argon (128 nm) and xenon (173 nm). We observed greater non-linearities in the avalanche photodiodes for the VUV scintillation light than reported previously for visible light, but considerably less than the non-linearities observed in other commercially available avalanche photodiodes.