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Deep Ultraviolet Avalanche Photodetectors (DUVAP)
Program Manager: Dr. Nibir Dhar
The US military has a pressing requirement for compact, reliable, and cost-effective photodetectors. Avalanche photodetectors offer high gain, low dark count, high reliability and robustness, and small form factor needed in military applications.
The Deep Ultraviolet Avalanche Photodetectors (DUVAP) program will demonstrate avalanche photodiodes (APDs) operating in Geiger mode. The APDs will operate in the ultraviolet (in the band centered at 280 nm) and will be insensitive to the solar flux with a cutoff ratio greater than 106. A short-wavelength-pass filter may be inserted in front of the device in order to assure solar blindness. Two classes of materials are being considered for this device: silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN).
The DUVAP program will be conducted in three phases. Phase I will determine the maximum defect density for which stable linear avalanche gain can be obtained. This phase will also demonstrate UV passband filters required for solar-blind operation. The overall goal of this phase will be to demonstrate feasibility of Geiger mode operation of UV avalanche photodetectors. The goal of Phase II is to optimize the materials and device design of Geiger mode detectors, to assure reproducibly high yield of devices, and to integrate filters and APDs. Phase II will result in an optimized Geiger mode APD. Phase III will result in device arrays, with individual devices having a dark count rate below 10 kHz and a solar rejection ratio exceeding 106.