A large and growing number of applications benefit from innovative and powerful 3D image sensors. Graphene photodetectors can achieve 3D sensing functionalities by intrinsic optoelectronic frequency mixing due to the nonlinear output characteristics of the sensor. In first proof of principle distance measurement demonstrations, we achieve modulation frequencies of 3.1 MHz, signal-to-noise ratios of ∼40 dB, distance detection up to at least 1 m, and a mean accuracy of 25.6 mm. The scalable More than Moore detector approach enables geometrical fill factors close to 100% and can easily complement powerful functionalities by simple back-end integration on top of CMOS electronics.
Keywords: 3d imaging; 3d sensor; distance measurement; graphene; optoelectronic mixer; optoelectronics; range sensor; superheterodyning; time-of-flight (ToF).