Passive bias temperature compensation circuit module

• US 10,541,660 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2017
• Issued: 01/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jefferson Science Associates, Llc
• Original Assignee: Jefferson Science Associates, Llc
• Inventors: McKisson, John E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pyo, Kevin K
• Application Number:
  US15/792,437
• Publication Number:
  US 20180115290A1
• Time in Patent Office: 819 Days
• Field of Search: 250214 C
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/0252 Constructional arrangements for compensating for fluctuations caused by, e.g. temperature, or using cooling or temperature stabilization of parts of the device; Controlling the atmosphere inside a photometer; Purge systems, cleaning devices protection against electromagnetic interferences G01J2001/0276
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/44 Electric circuits for command of an exposure part G03B7/02
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 2001/444 Compensating; Calibrating, e.g. dark current, temperature drift, noise reduction or baseline correction; Adjusting
• CPC Class Codes: H01C 7/008 Thermistors H01C7/02 - H01C7/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 1/0041 using thermistors
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 2201/708 being temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/20 Automatic control H03G3/005 takes precedence; combined with volume compression or expansion H03G7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/3084 in receivers or transmitters for electromagnetic waves other than radiowaves, e.g. lightwaves H03G3/32, H03G3/34 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/185 Components encapsulated in the insulating substrate of the printed circuit or incorporated in internal layers of a multilayer circuit semiconductor chips encapsulated by interconnect and support structures H01L23/5389, H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/186 manufactured by mounting on or connecting to patterned circuits before or during embedding
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10015 Non-printed capacitor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10022 Non-printed resistor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/1006 Non-printed filter
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10151 Sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10219 Thermoelectric component
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10515 Stacked components
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10522 Adjacent components
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/30 Assembling printed circuits with electric components, e.g. with resistor

Abstract

A passive bias temperature compensation module for silicon photomultiplier, avalanche photodiodes and similar photodetectors that possess a moderately linear temperature coefficient of gain and that may be compensated by varying an applied bias voltage. The module includes an electrical circuit and a method for determining component values to provide a constant voltage source to stabilize the gain of one or more photodetector devices. A temperature sensor in the module is held in close thermal contact with the photodetector and a filter capacitor is electrically close to the photodetector. The module is based on the concept of temperature sensitive voltage division which is applicable to situations in which large numbers of photodetectors must be gain-compensated for temperature variations over a wide range while maintaining excellent gain matching. The passive bias temperature compensation method enables multiple photodetectors to share a single constant voltage supply without loss of matching performance.

Claims

1. A method for providing a passive bias temperature compensation module for a photodetector having a specified bias requirement, comprising:

selecting a thermistor resistor;

calculating, based on the desired operating temperature and the specified bias requirement of the photodetector, a value for a linearizing resistor, a source resistor, a divider resistor, and a bias supply voltage;

attaching the thermistor resistor to the module in thermal contact with the photodetector;

attaching the module to a motherboard;

mounting the linearizing resistor, source resistor and the divider resistor on the motherboard;

connecting a bias supply voltage to all photodetectors having the same bias requirement;

a PCB body, a bottom layer, and a top layer; and

said thermistor resistor is contained within said PCB body by said top layer and said bottom layer.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

attaching a current limiting resistor to the module connected to the thermistor resistor; and

attaching a filter capacitor to the module.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the passive bias temperature compensation module provides thermal isolation between the photodetector and the motherboard.

4. A passive bias temperature compensation module for a photodetector having a specified bias requirement, comprising:

a thermistor resistor on said module, said thermistor resistor in thermal contact with the photodetector;

a filter capacitor and a current limiting resistor on said module;

a motherboard in thermal isolation from said module;

a linearizing resistor and a divider resistor on the motherboard;

a bias supply voltage connected to the motherboard;

a source resistor on said motherboard;

a PCB body, a bottom layer, and a top layer; and

said thermistor resistor is embedded within said PCB body by said top layer and said bottom layer.

5. The passive bias temperature compensation module of claim 4 further comprising an anode-cathode in land and an anode-cathode out land on said top layer of said module.

6. The passive bias temperature compensation module of claim 5 further comprising a first contact extending from said top layer and electrically connecting said anode-cathode in land with said photodetector.

7. The passive bias temperature compensation module of claim 6 further comprising a second contact extending from said top layer and electrically connecting said anode-cathode out land with said photodetector.

8. The passive bias temperature compensation module of claim 7 further comprising:

a divider out connection to said thermistor resistor and to said current limiting resistor; and

said divider out connection on said bottom layer of said module.

9. The passive bias temperature compensation module of claim 8 further comprising:

a ground connection to said filter capacitor; and

said ground connection on said bottom layer of said module and connected to said filter capacitor.

10. The passive bias temperature compensation module of claim 4 wherein said PCB body, said top layer, and said bottom layer form an embedded component PCB.