CMOS 3D image sensor based on pulse modulated time-of-flight principle and intrinsic lateral drift-field photodiode pixels

Design and measurement results of a CMOS 128 × 96 pixel sensor are presented, which can be used for three-dimensional (3D) scene reconstruction applications based on indirect time-of-flight (ToF) principle enabled by pulse modulated active laser illumination. The 40μm pitch pixels are based on the novel intrinsic lateral drift-field photodiode (LDPD) that allows for a 30ns complete charge transfer from the photoactive area into the readout node, and accumulation of signal charge over several readout cycles for extended signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Distance measurements have been performed using a specially developed camera system.