A new Silicon Photomultiplier structure for blue light detection

Silicon Photomultipliers are extremely promising devices for those applications requiring the detection of very low-intensity light (down to single photon detection). The major drawback of the existing prototypes is the poor detection efficiency, especially at short wavelengths (below 10% in the blue region). In this paper, a new structure aimed at improving this parameter at wavelengths ranging from 400–450 nm is presented. With respect to a conventional structure it allows a maximization of the breakdown initiation probability for a given bias voltage and a reduction of the dead area. The analysis is supported by TCAD simulations.