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PDM-IR user manual v
3.0.3
Micro Photon Devices S.r.l. – Italy All Rights Reserved
21
Figure 14. Typical signals in Free running mode.
4.3
PDM-IR SPAD Section
After having discussed how the internal PDM-IR circuitry control the SPAD operation, the last component of
the PDM-IR to be discussed is the SPAD itself. Indeed, in order to get the best performance from the SPAD,
the user should be allowed to adjust the SPAD main parameters. For this reason, PDM-IR allows the control
of both the SPAD working temperature and the Excess Bias voltage. The lower temperature, the lower the
DCR but the higher the afterpulsing effect, given a hold off time, as the trap decay times increase. Of course,
when setting the lowest SPAD temperatures, the PDM-IR must be placed on a good heatsink, so that it can
dissipate the heath generated by the Peltier cooler. If this is not done, the module might heat up too much
and go in safe mode shutting down the detector operation. In Figure 15 section of the PDM-IR block diagram
related to the SPAD is showed.
In the next paragraphs, the 3 parameters related to the SPAD setting are discussed in detail: SPAD
temperature, SPAD excess bias voltage and SPAD hold off. In Table 6, the possible settings and their allowed
range of operation, are showed.
Figure 15. PDM-IR SPAD Section Block diagram.