Patent ID: 8008741

Claim:
A photodiode array in which a plurality of photodetector channels are formed on a substrate having a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, with a light to be detected being incident to the plurality of photodetector channels, said photodiode array comprising: the substrate; an epitaxial semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type which is formed on the semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type of the substrate, the epitaxial semiconductor layer being positioned at a light incident surface side of the photodiode array, and forms a pn junction at the interface with the semiconductor layer, and also has a plurality of multiplication regions for avalanche multiplication of carriers produced by the incidence of the light to be detected so that each of the multiplication regions corresponds to each of the photodetector channels; and a plurality of resistors each of which has two ends and is provided for each of the photodetector channels so as to be electrically connected to the epitaxial semiconductor layer via one end thereof and be connected to a signal conductor via the other end thereof, the resistors being arranged on the light incident surface of the photodiode array and being arranged between the photodetector channels.