The worldwide pandemic due to the COVID-19 coronavirus has shut down many conferences and exhibitions that once served as annual gatherings for research and information swapping. Travel has been limited by the virus and traditional face-to-face contact between presenters and attendees has been severely restricted.
To their credit, the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) has used the global health emergency to create a new digital forum where engineers, researchers and scientists can interact. The event, dubbed the SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing Digital Forum, is scheduled to run online from April 27 through May 1. Registration is available free of charge.
One of the companies announcing its involvement in the virtual technical conference and exhibition, Excelitas Technologies Corp., will present a technical session entitled “Excess Noise Factor of Front and Back Illuminated Silicon Avalanche Photodiodes.” In addition to extensive research capabilities, the firm meets quality standards for military, medical, space and many other industries. It also offers in-house photonics and optoelectronics wafer fabrication and semiconductor processing.
The session will investigate the impact of a silicon avalanche photodiode (APD) structure and light detection wavelength on its excess noise factor (ENF). The technical session will review the McIntyre APD theory and gain and ENF equations for modeling and predicting the performance of an APD operating at wavelengths from 400 to 1,000 nm with either front or back illumination. It will include details on an experimental setup capable of measuring the APDs reviewed in the research, which are used in both commercial and military applications.
The session will include guidance on selecting an APD for optimum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) based on the requirements of an application. The presentation will be made by Philippe Berard, Ph.D., a senior member of the technical staff at Excelitas, who will respond to posted questions throughout the event. Afterward, the presentation (and other presentations) will be available on the SPIE Digital Library.