Progress in silicon photomultiplier researches

In this paper we introduce the progress in silicon photomultiplier, which has potential to replace photomultiplier in various field involved low light level detection. The experimental results of a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) with bulk integrated quenching resistors on epitaxial silicon are presented. It has an effective area of 0.5 mm × 0.5 mm with G-APD cell density of 10⁴/mm². It demonstrates a peak PDE up to 25.6% at 460 nm, dark count rate of 1.5 MHz at room temperature, cross talk of 4.2%, and gain level of 10⁵. Compared with conventional SiPM with polysilicon quenching resistors on the surface, it has potential advantages of high photon detection efficiency (PDE) while retaining a large micro cell density, low crosstalk and the fabrication process is also simplified. (authors)