Feature: Power management
generated carriers, the dark current that flows even with no light present. By tightening up process conditions, refining the device structure and improving material purity, the dark current in the latest Phlux Aura Noiseless InGaAs APDs – which won the SPIE Prism Award for Sensors at Photonics West 2026 – is cut by over three quarters compared with earlier versions. When combining very low excess
Figure 3: Aura InGaAs APD architecture reduces dark current, improving signal-to-noise ratio
noise with very low dark current in a single device, a commercial APD will deliver roughly a twelvefold increase in sensitivity over earlier high-end parts. Tat gain in sensitivity allows the design of smaller, more power-efficient and more affordable time-of-flight systems. At the same time, the improved device provides better long-term stability, stronger overall performance and higher robustness in demanding operating conditions.
Stable gain and wide temperature range Te low noise from the Aura APD helps keep its gain stable across normal operating conditions. With traditional APDs, the device must be biased very close to breakdown to achieve high gain, so even small ripples or spikes on the supply can translate into large output swings, which makes these parts awkward to tame in a real design. With Aura, the device can be biased further away from the breakdown point, making it inherently easier to drop it into a receiver’s front end. Te same characteristic also makes the device less sensitive to temperature changes, which is a major headache when conventional APDs are operated near breakdown, because breakdown voltage shiſts directly with junction temperature. In a typical system, even modest
Figure 4: Fast APD recovery after high-power pulses enables accurate detection of closely spaced return signals
multiplication layer, which produces a far more controlled response. Because that alloy layer is homogeneous
and compatible with standard processing, devices can be built repeatably whilst benefiting from an almost deterministic
18 April 2026
www.electronicsworld.co.uk
gain mechanism. Te excess noise drops enough to safely operate at avalanche gains to about 120 without the multiplication noise swamping the signal. On top of this, a designer would still need to fight the baseline noise from thermally
temperature shiſts can move the breakdown point by hundreds of millivolts, yet die temperature can’t be accurately measured nor the supply voltage tweaked during design. Tis is why conventional solutions oſten need extra compensation circuitry (which adds cost and board area), just to hold the gain roughly constant. By contrast, the Aura device can be run safely away from breakdown, with a much lower
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