Speed considerations for LDPD based time-of-flight CMOS 3D image sensors

Author

Suss, Andreas ; Nitta, Christopher ; Spickermann, Andreas ; Durini, Daniel ; Varga, Georgeta ; Jung, Moongon ; Brockherde, Werner ; Hosticka, B.J. ; Vogt, Hendrik ; Schwope, Stefan

Author_Institution

Fraunhofer Inst. for Microelectron. Circuits & Syst., Duisburg, Germany

fYear

2013

fDate

16-20 Sept. 2013

Firstpage

299

Lastpage

302

Abstract

Recently a 128×96 pixel range imager with a pitch of 40 μm and a fill factor of 38 % was presented for 3D range imaging measurements based on the pulse modulated (PM) time-of-flight (ToF) principle. This sensor employs a high-speed photodetector called lateral drift-field photodiode (LDPD). During the characterization insufficiencies in charge transfer were observed for low-light illumination. Here, characterization and analysis of the former imager is given and a redesign that circumvents the parasitic effects is demonstrated and verified by measurements on chip and on camera level.

Keywords

CMOS image sensors; charge exchange; distance measurement; lighting; photodetectors; photodiodes; pulse modulation; 3D range imaging measurement; LDPD; PM ToF principle; charge transfer; fill factor; lateral drift field photodiode; light illumination; parasitic effect; photodetector; pulse modulation; time of flight CMOS 3D image sensor; CMOS integrated circuits; Image sensors; Logic gates; Measurement by laser beam; Photodetectors; Three-dimensional displays;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

ESSCIRC (ESSCIRC), 2013 Proceedings of the

Conference_Location

Bucharest

ISSN

1930-8833

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-0643-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ESSCIRC.2013.6649132

Filename

6649132