Architecture and applications of a high resolution gated SPAD image sensor

Opt Express. 2014 Jul 14;22(14):17573-89. doi: 10.1364/OE.22.017573.

Abstract

We present the architecture and three applications of the largest resolution image sensor based on single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) published to date. The sensor, fabricated in a high-voltage CMOS process, has a resolution of 512 × 128 pixels and a pitch of 24 μm. The fill-factor of 5% can be increased to 30% with the use of microlenses. For precise control of the exposure and for time-resolved imaging, we use fast global gating signals to define exposure windows as small as 4 ns. The uniformity of the gate edges location is ∼140 ps (FWHM) over the whole array, while in-pixel digital counting enables frame rates as high as 156 kfps. Currently, our camera is used as a highly sensitive sensor with high temporal resolution, for applications ranging from fluorescence lifetime measurements to fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and generation of true random numbers.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Electronics*
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / instrumentation*
  • Lenses
  • Lighting
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Optics and Photonics / instrumentation*
  • Oxides / chemistry
  • Photons*
  • Probability
  • Semiconductors
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Oxides