5.6 A 400×400-Pixel 6μm-Pitch Vertical Avalanche Photodiodes CMOS Image Sensor Based on 150ps-Fast Capacitive Relaxation Quenching in Geiger Mode for Synthesis of Arbitrary Gain Images

Hirose, Yutaka; Koyama, Shinzo; Okino, Toru; Inoue, Akito; Saito, Shigeru; Nosé, Yukihiko; Ishii, Motonori; Yamahira, Seiji; Kasuga, Shigetaka; Mori, M.; Konishi, Tatsuya; Nakanishi, K.; Usuda, Manabu; Odagawa, Akihiro; Tanaka, Tsuyoshi

doi:10.1109/isscc.2019.8662405

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…To confirm the calculated results in the previous section, we measured the output voltage amplitude of the fabricated 6 µm 400 × 400 pixels SPAD-based CIS [17]. The specification of the device is summarized in Table 2.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

“…are a carrier number vector and a transition matrix. We consider generation and quenching of a Geiger mode pulse assuming a SPAD applied to a CMOS image sensor (CIS) with a common four transistors circuit [17] as shown in Figure 1a. A fixed voltage is applied to the anode of the SPAD.…”

Section: Modeling Of Capacitive Relaxation Quenchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, it is possible to design a potential profile of a SPAD to accommodate all the charges by setting up a barrier larger than 2|V ex |. Experimentally, operation of a device, i.e., 400 × 400 6 µm pixels SPAD-based CIS, designed by using this method is demonstrated [17]. We note that the results obtained in the present work (both simulations and experiments) are different from the common sense of quenching of SPADs; "avalanche multiplication stops at the breakdown voltage."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling and Analysis of Capacitive Relaxation Quenching in a Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) Applied to a CMOS Image Sensor

Inoue

Okino

Koyama

et al. 2020

Sensors

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We present an analysis of carrier dynamics of the single-photon detection process, i.e., from Geiger mode pulse generation to its quenching, in a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD). The device is modeled by a parallel circuit of a SPAD and a capacitance representing both space charge accumulation inside the SPAD and parasitic components. The carrier dynamics inside the SPAD is described by time-dependent bipolar-coupled continuity equations (BCE). Numerical solutions of BCE show that the entire process completes within a few hundreds of picoseconds. More importantly, we find that the total amount of charges stored on the series capacitance gives rise to a voltage swing of the internal bias of SPAD twice of the excess bias voltage with respect to the breakdown voltage. This, in turn, gives a design methodology to control precisely generated charges and enables one to use SPADs as conventional photodiodes (PDs) in a four transistor pixel of a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor (CIS) with short exposure time and without carrier overflow. Such operation is demonstrated by experiments with a 6 µm size 400 × 400 pixels SPAD-based CIS designed with this methodology.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Modeling Of Capacitive Relaxation Quenchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling and Analysis of Capacitive Relaxation Quenching in a Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) Applied to a CMOS Image Sensor

Inoue

Okino

Koyama

et al. 2020

Sensors

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“…The value is relatively high and consistent with other later investigations [6], [8]. Recently, as a limiting case of an infinite QR, a capacitive quenching (CQ) circuit is introduced [9], [10]. Due to a condition below the breakdown voltage in the final state, CQ is demonstrated to be after-pulse free [9]- [11].…”

supporting

confidence: 87%

“…Recently, as a limiting case of an infinite QR, a capacitive quenching (CQ) circuit is introduced [9], [10]. Due to a condition below the breakdown voltage in the final state, CQ is demonstrated to be after-pulse free [9]- [11]. Thus, universal description of the quenching carrier dynamics in terms of the QR is highly expected.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear Carrier Dynamics in a Single Photon Avalanche Diode: Stability, Bifurcation, and Quenching Condition

Inoue¹,

Hirose

2021

IEEE Trans. Electron Devices

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Nonlinear carrier dynamics during quenching of a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) are investigated. A Lienard type differential equation is derived from carrier continuity equations and it is solved analytically and numerically. Universal characteristics of the quenching carrier dynamics, i.e., stability, bifurcation, and quenching conditions, are analyzed on a trace-determinant plane of the Jacobian matrix and on a phase plane as functions of the quenching resistance (QR). With a finite QR or a resistive quenching (RQ), the breakdown voltage is found to be an attractor leading to a nonquenched final state. In order to produce a successful quenching, i.e., a status identified as an unstable fixed point (FP) with a zero-carrier state, two conditions are found to be necessary: 1) bias voltage dropping below breakdown voltage to ensure carrier decrease and 2) carrier extinction (CE) in this carrier decreasing period. The two conditions together lead to a threshold of QR. On the other hand, a capacitive quenching (CQ) appearing as a special case of RQ with an infinite resistance is found to show a completely different bifurcation character. CQ is derived to be equivalent to a logistic equation giving a transcritical bifurcation at the breakdown voltage and a final state identified as a stable FP with natural CE. Finally, two time constants both governed by an excess voltage are derived. In particular, one of them, a lifetime of impact ionizations, is found to be equivalent to the "avalanche frequency" of an impact ionization avalanche transit-time diode (IMPATT). Index Terms-Avalanche breakdown, avalanche photodiodes, CMOS image sensors (CISs), quenching, single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs). I. INTRODUCTION D EVELOPMENT of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs)-based CMOS image sensors (CISs) is in continual progress reaching a mega-pixel generation [1], [2]. Their capability of imaging individual photon detection events adds various new functionalities to conventional CISs such as time of flight ranging sensors [1]-[3], photon counting imagers [4], and time-resolved spectroscopy sensors [5]. In a SPAD-CIS,

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Neuromorphic Computing for Compact LiDAR Systems

Delic

Afshar

2023

More-Than-Moore Devices and Integration for Semiconductors

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5.6 A 400×400-Pixel 6μm-Pitch Vertical Avalanche Photodiodes CMOS Image Sensor Based on 150ps-Fast Capacitive Relaxation Quenching in Geiger Mode for Synthesis of Arbitrary Gain Images

Cited by 12 publications

References 2 publications

Modeling and Analysis of Capacitive Relaxation Quenching in a Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) Applied to a CMOS Image Sensor

Modeling and Analysis of Capacitive Relaxation Quenching in a Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) Applied to a CMOS Image Sensor

Nonlinear Carrier Dynamics in a Single Photon Avalanche Diode: Stability, Bifurcation, and Quenching Condition

Neuromorphic Computing for Compact LiDAR Systems

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