Title :
CMOS single photon sensor with in-pixel TDC for Time-of-Flight applications
Author :
Villa, Federica ; Lussana, Rudi ; Tamborini, Davide ; Bronzi, Danilo ; Markovic, Branko ; Tosi, Alberto ; Zappa, Franco ; Tisa, Simone
Author_Institution :
Dipt. di Elettron., Inf. e Bioingegneria, Politec. di Milano, Milan, Italy
Abstract :
A CMOS imager that combines single photon sensitivity with photon timing capabilities has been developed for Time-Of-Flight (TOF) measurements and for Time-Correlated Single-Photon Counting (TCSPC) applications. A test structure with 32×4 pixels is presented in this paper. Each pixel is based on a 30 μm diameter Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) with low Dark Counting Rate (60 cps at room temperature) and a Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) with 400 ps resolution. Some preliminary measurements confirm the possibility to use this SPAD array in a 3D TOF scanning system.
Keywords :
CMOS image sensors; avalanche diodes; photon counting; time of flight spectra; time-digital conversion; 3D TOF scanning system; CMOS imager; CMOS single photon sensor; TCSPC application; TOF measurement; in-pixel TDC; low dark counting rate; photon timing capability; single photon sensitivity; single-photon avalanche diode; size 30 mum; time 400 ps; time-correlated single-photon counting application; time-digital converter; time-of-flight application; time-of-flight measurement; Arrays; Histograms; Measurement by laser beam; Photonics; Temperature measurement; Three-dimensional displays; Time measurement; Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD); Time-Correlated Single-Photon Counting; Time-of-Flight (ToF); Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC);
Conference_Titel :
Time-to-Digital Converters (NoMe TDC), 2013 IEEE Nordic-Mediterranean Workshop on
Conference_Location :
Perugia
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-1184-4
DOI :
10.1109/NoMeTDC.2013.6658230
