Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes in a 0.16 μm BCD Technology With Sharp Timing Response and Red-Enhanced Sensitivity

Sanzaro, Mirko; Gattari, Paolo; Villa, Federica; Tosi, Alberto; Croce, Giuseppe; Zappa, Franco

doi:10.1109/jstqe.2017.2762464

Cited by 91 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…On a more general comparison our SPAD is outperformed by the work in [46] which achieves, with a 30 μm circular device, both the highest PDP peak and one of the lowest DCR in the state-of-the-art.…”

Section: B Photon Detection Probabilitymentioning

confidence: 91%

A $64\times64$ SPAD Array for Portable Colorimetric Sensing, Fluorescence and X-Ray Imaging

et al. 2019

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We present the design and application of a 64 × 64 pixel SPAD array to portable colorimetric sensing, and fluorescence and x-ray imaging. The device was fabricated on an unmodified 180 nm CMOS process and is based on a square p+/n active junction SPAD geometry suitable for detecting green fluorescence emission. The stand-alone SPAD shows a photodetection probability greater than 60% at 5 V excess bias, with a dark count rate of less than 4 cps/µm 2 and sub-ns timing jitter performance. It has a global shutter with an in-pixel 8-bit counter; four 5-bit decoders and two 64-to-1 multiplexer blocks allow the data to be read-out. The array of sensors was able to detect fluorescence from a fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) solution down to a concentration of 900 pM with an SNR of 9.8 dB. A colorimetric assay was performed on top of the sensor array with a limit of quantification of 3.1 µm. X-rays images, using energies ranging from 10 kVp to 100 kVp, of a lead grating mask were acquired without using a scintillation crystal.

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Section: B Photon Detection Probabilitymentioning

confidence: 91%

A $64\times64$ SPAD Array for Portable Colorimetric Sensing, Fluorescence and X-Ray Imaging

et al. 2019

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“…Despite the good performance and the wide-active area offered by PMTs and MCPs, they present some limitations for the use in a clinical environment in terms of robustness (high level of illumination may damage photocathodes) and costs. Detector modules based on silicon Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) overcome these issues and can fit the application, as they generally exhibit a SPTR lower than 30 ps (FWHM) and a PDE higher than 60% at 500 nm and still 12% at 800 nm [30], [31]. Unfortunately, wide collection area is mandatory in order to improve light harvesting [19].…”

Section: B Sipm-based Single-photon Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eight-Wavelength, Dual Detection Channel Instrument for Near-Infrared Time-Resolved Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy

Renna

Buttafava

Behera

et al. 2019

IEEE J. Select. Topics Quantum Electron.

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In this paper, we present an innovative instrument for near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy. The system is based on eight custom-designed pulsed diode lasers emitting at different wavelengths in the near-infrared region (635-1050 nm), all exhibiting an average optical power higher than 1 mW at 40 MHz pulse repetition rate, two custom-made single-photon detectors based on wide-area silicon photomultipliers and two time-measurement units based on a custom time-to-digital converter with 10 ps timing resolution. The system instrument response function has a width narrower than 160 ps (fullwidth at half-maximum) and stability better than ±1% for several hours for all the wavelengths. All the components of the instrument were designed in order to be compact. The entire system will be hosted in a standard 19 inches, 5U rack case (size 48 × 38 × 20 cm 3). The system communicates with the external computer through a USB 2.0 link and is designed to be employed in a clinical environment. The proposed instrument, thanks to the reduction of its cost and dimensions, paves the way to a wider diffusion of multiwavelengths near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy systems.

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“…The imager developed in this work is fabricated in a 0.16 µm BCD technology, which combines SPADs having state-of-the-art photodetection efficiency (5) , thick oxide front-end transistors for operation up to 5 V excess bias, and high-performance 1.8 V digital logic for core digital processing. The array is organized in 16×16 macropixels, each composed by 2×2 SPADs having independent time-gated front-end circuitry and photon counters, but sharing a single, two-stage Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC).…”

Section: Imager Structure 21 Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time-gated SPAD camera with reconfigurable macropixels for LIDAR applications

Portaluppi

Conca

Villa

et al. 2019

32nd International Congress on High-Speed Imaging and Photonics

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Many industrial and scientific applications, ranging from 3D imaging (such as LIDAR, surveillance, object tracking) to Time Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC), require the ability to perform time-resolved detection of weak light signals, down to single-photon level. Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes are solid-state detectors capable of single-photon sensitivity in the visible and near-infrared wavelength regions and compatible with standard silicon processes. This demand driven the development of low cost, large size CMOS SPAD imagers. In this work we present the design and characterization of a time-gated 32x32 SPAD image sensor fabricated in a 0.16 μm BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) technology. The sensor is based on an innovative 16x16 macropixel structure, each composed by four SPADs with independent sensing front-end and event counters, plus a shared Timeto-Digital Converter (TDC). This approach enables higher fill-factor (9.6% with a pixel pitch of 100 μm) by sharing the costly (in terms of area) TDC resource, as well as reduced power dissipation. The imager provides simultaneous photon-timing and photon-counting data and features a 12 bit, 75 ps bin width TDC, which can perform one conversion per each gate window, with up to 62 windows per data readout frame. Two main operation modes are available: a single-photon mode, where an arbitration circuit within the macropixel is used to share the TDC among the 4 SPADs, but with no loss of X-Y resolution (i.e. keeping information about the triggered SPAD); and a two-photon-coincidence mode, where the TDC performs a conversion only if two SPADs of the macropixel are triggered within a preset coincidence window. Lastly, the sensor features multiple readout modes, with varying amount of output data, in order to fit different end-user applications. The imager is capable of 100 kfps (frames per second) in full readout mode, and up to 400 kfps in a reduced data set mode.

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Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes in a 0.16 μm BCD Technology With Sharp Timing Response and Red-Enhanced Sensitivity

Cited by 91 publications

References 51 publications

A $64\times64$ SPAD Array for Portable Colorimetric Sensing, Fluorescence and X-Ray Imaging

A $64\times64$ SPAD Array for Portable Colorimetric Sensing, Fluorescence and X-Ray Imaging

Eight-Wavelength, Dual Detection Channel Instrument for Near-Infrared Time-Resolved Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy

Time-gated SPAD camera with reconfigurable macropixels for LIDAR applications

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