Time-Of-Flight range finding sensor using an integrated PNP PIN Phototransistor in 180 nm CMOS

In this work we present the first approach of a Time-Of-Flight (TOF) sensor with an integrated bandwidth enhanced pnp phototransistor. The pixel reaches a fill factor of 67 %. A standard 180 nm CMOS process was used for implementing the TOF sensor together with the phototransistor. Both were combined to an optoelectronic integrated circuit. The power consumption of the sensor was 900 nW. Standard deviations of the measured distances well better than 5.1 cm were achieved for realistic optical powers in the range of nW. For the optimal working point of the phototransistor at around 100 nW a standard deviation of only 1.6 mm was measured.