CMOS SPAD Sensors for 3D Time-of-Flight Imaging, LiDAR and Ultra-High Speed Cameras

Abstract

In conventional applications, such as bio-imaging and microscopy, SPAD is typically used as a single-photon counter. However, this advantage has been challenged by other photon-counting technologies, especially from CMOS-based QIS. Comparatively, apart from single-photon counting capability, QIS is superior to SPAD in terms of intrinsic multi-photon counting capability, quantum efficiency, dark noise, pixel size and fill factor. All these features indicate a low cost and high resolution photon counting imager can be built with QIS, which can be a great competition to SPADs. Moreover, QIS has been demonstrated with 1Mjot array, 0.175e- rms read noise and 1000 fps at less than 20 mWpower consumption.