Geiger mode mapping: A new imaging modality for focused ion microprobes

Geiger mode detectors fabricated in silicon are used to detect incident photons with high sensitivity. They are operated with large internal electric fields so that a single electron–hole pair can trigger an avalanche breakdown which generates a signal in an external circuit. We have applied a modified version of the ion beam induced charge technique in a nuclear microprobe system to investigate the application of Geiger mode detectors to detect discrete ion impacts. Our detectors are fabricated with an architecture based on the avalanche diode structure and operated with a transient bias voltage that activates the Geiger mode. In this mode avalanche breakdown is triggered by ion impact followed by diffusion of an electron–hole pair into the sensitive volume. The avalanche breakdown is quenched by removal of the transient bias voltage which is synchronized with a beam gate. An alternative operation mode is possible at lower bias voltages where the avalanche process self-quenches and the device exhibits linear charge gain as a consequence. Incorporation of such a device into a silicon substrate potentially allows the exceptional sensitivity of Geiger mode to register an electron–hole pair from sub-10 keV donor atom implants for the deterministic construction of shallow arrays of single atoms in the substrate required for emerging quantum technologies. Our characterization system incorporates a fast electrostatic ion beam switcher gated by the transient device bias, duration 800 ns, with a time delay, duration 500 ns, that allows for both the ion time of flight and the diffusion of the electron–hole pairs in the substrate into the sensitive region of the device following ion impact of a scanned 1 MeV H microbeam. We compare images at the micron scale mapping the response of the device to ion impact operated in both Geiger mode and avalanche (linear) mode for silicon devices engineered with this ultimate-sensitivity detector structure.