NEW MOS PHOTON-COUNTING SENSOR OPERATING IN THE ABOVE-BREAKDOWN REGIME.

A solid-state optical sensor based on a buried-channel charge-transfer MOS structure and operated at voltages in the above-breakdown regime is proposed. In this mode of operation the MOS photosensor performs as a photon counter with, it is suggested, two significant advantages over similar sensors based on p-n junction diodes, namely: self-quenching of the avalanche discharge and possible implementation in the form of a self-scanned CCD array. In this first demonstration of the proposed device, discrete structures in silicon are investigated experimentally.