High linearity SPAD and TDC array for TCSPC and 3D ranging applications

Federica Villa; Rudi Lussana; Danilo Bronzi; Alberto Dalla Mora; Davide Contini; Simone Tisa; Alberto Tosi; Franco Zappa

doi:10.1117/12.2077847

8 February 2015 High linearity SPAD and TDC array for TCSPC and 3D ranging applications

Federica Villa, Rudi Lussana, Danilo Bronzi, Alberto Dalla Mora, Davide Contini, Simone Tisa, Alberto Tosi, Franco Zappa

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9370, Quantum Sensing and Nanophotonic Devices XII; 93701U (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2077847
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2015, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

An array of 32x32 Single-Photon Avalanche-Diodes (SPADs) and Time-to-Digital Converters (TDCs) has been fabricated in a 0.35 μm automotive-certified CMOS technology. The overall dimension of the chip is 9x9 mm2. Each pixel is able to detect photons in the 300 nm – 900 nm wavelength range with a fill-factor of 3.14% and either to count them or to time stamp their arrival time. In photon-counting mode an in-pixel 6-bit counter provides photon-numberresolved intensity movies at 100 kfps, whereas in photon-timing mode the 10-bit in-pixel TDC provides time-resolved maps (Time-Correlated Single-Photon Counting measurements) or 3D depth-resolved (through direct time-of-flight technique) images and movies, with 312 ps resolution. The photodetector is a 30 μm diameter SPAD with low Dark Count Rate (120 cps at room temperature, 3% hot-pixels) and 55% peak Photon Detection Efficiency (PDE) at 450 nm. The TDC has a 6-bit counter and a 4-bit fine interpolator, based on a Delay Locked Loop (DLL) line, which makes the TDC insensitive to process, voltage, and temperature drifts. The implemented sliding-scale technique improves linearity, giving 2% LSB DNL and 10% LSB INL. The single-shot precision is 260 ps rms, comprising SPAD, TDC and driving board jitter. Both optical and electrical crosstalk among SPADs and TDCs are negligible. 2D fast movies and 3D reconstructions with centimeter resolution are reported.

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Federica Villa, Rudi Lussana, Danilo Bronzi, Alberto Dalla Mora, Davide Contini, Simone Tisa, Alberto Tosi, and Franco Zappa "High linearity SPAD and TDC array for TCSPC and 3D ranging applications", Proc. SPIE 9370, Quantum Sensing and Nanophotonic Devices XII, 93701U (8 February 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2077847

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