Infrared Photon Counting by Ge Avalanche Diodes

Abstract
Germanium avalanche diodes with statistically independent microplasma pulses have been successfully used as very sensitive photon counters at 77°K and at photon energies near 0.8 eV. The dark pulse rate at low temperatures was found to be limited by band‐to‐band tunnelling of carriers, and at high temperatures by thermal generation of minority carriers. Tunnel‐assisted absorption was observed at energies slightly smaller than the band gap.

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