Time-of-flight based distance measurement sensor with integrated double-anode photodetector

The presented distance measurement sensor operates on a time-of-flight principle for distance determination. Electro-optical correlation of the reflected, low intensity optical input signal with the modulation signal is performed directly by the double-anode photodetector. The linearity error over the entire measurement range of 0.1-15 m is less than plusmn0.25%. The maximum standard deviation for a measurement time of 5 ms is 3.5 cm. The sensor implemented as a system on chip, containing the photodetector and the readout circuit, was fabricated in a modified 0.6 mum BiCMOS process. The active die area of the circuitry is 170times300 mum². The area of the photodetector is 100times100 mum²