Compact analog counting SPAD pixel with 1.9% PRNU and 530ps time gating

Author

Pancheri, Lucio ; Panina, Ekaterina ; Dalla Betta, Gian-Franco ; Gasparini, Leonardo ; Stoppa, David

Author_Institution

Univ. of Trento, Trento, Italy

fYear

2013

fDate

16-20 Sept. 2013

Firstpage

295

Lastpage

298

Abstract

In this paper, a pixel for time-resolved single photon detection is presented. The pixel includes a passively quenched Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD), a gating circuit and an analog counter based on charge sharing approach. The analog output signal delivered by the pixel is quantized in discrete levels, corresponding to different photon counts. Three linear arrays with different pixel versions were fabricated in a standard 0.15μm CMOS technology. The electro-optical characterization demonstrated a counter non-uniformity of 1.1% and a Photo-Response Non-Uniformity (PRNU) of 1.9%, including SPAD non-uniformity. The pixel exhibits shot-noise limited operation and a minimum gating window width of 530ps FWHM.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; avalanche photodiodes; counting circuits; CMOS technology; FWHM; analog counter; analog output signal; charge sharing approach; discrete levels; electro-optical characterization; gating circuit; gating window width; linear arrays; photo-response nonuniformity; photon counts; pixel versions; shot-noise limited operation; size 0.15 mum; time 530 ps; CMOS integrated circuits; CMOS technology; Feature extraction; Noise; Photonics; Radiation detectors; Transistors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

ESSCIRC (ESSCIRC), 2013 Proceedings of the

Conference_Location

Bucharest

ISSN

1930-8833

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-0643-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ESSCIRC.2013.6649131

Filename

6649131