Transmitting and receiving device, laser radar and data processing method

Abstract

The present invention relates to a transceiver device comprising: a light emission layer comprising at least one light emitter adapted to generate and emit emission light; the light emitting layer is stacked on the light detection layer, the light detection layer comprises at least one detection unit, the detection unit is configured to receive and detect incident light, and the beam combining layer is arranged on an optical path of the emitted light and the incident light. And is configured to at least partially separate the incident light from the emitted light.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of laser radar, and more specifically, to a transceiver, a laser radar and a data processing method. Background Art

[0002] The transmitting device (the transmitting device includes a light source, a transmitting optical component, etc.) and the receiving device (the receiving device includes a detector, a receiving optical component, etc.) currently used in laser radars are designed independently of each other. For example, the transmitting optical component in the transmitting device and the receiving optical component in the receiving device are arranged in parallel with each other, and the light source and the transmitting optical component, as well as the detector and the receiving optical component are fixed and adjusted respectively, so that the transmitting optical component can collimate the detection light emitted by the light source, and the receiving optical component can focus the echo light reflected by the obstacle of the detection light.

[0003] To achieve two-dimensional scanning, one solution uses a single laser and a single detector, and deflects the detection light to different angles in the two-dimensional direction through a two-dimensional scanning mirror.

[0004] Another solution is Figure 1A As shown, the transmitting device includes a one-dimensional array of lasers 11 and a transmitting optical component 13. The detection light emitted by the lasers at different positions in the one-dimensional array is emitted at different vertical angles after passing through the transmitting optical component 13, thereby realizing vertical scanning. The receiving device is a corresponding one-dimensional array of detectors 15 and a receiving optical component 17. The detectors at different positions are suitable for receiving echo light reflected from different vertical angles. The horizontal scanning can be realized by rotating the transmitting device and the receiving device, or by reflecting the detection light through a one-dimensional scanning mirror deflected in the horizontal direction, thereby realizing two-dimensional scanning.

[0005] Another solution is Figure 1B In the solid-state radar solution shown, the transmitting device is a two-dimensional array laser 12, and the emitted detection light can be shaped by the transmitting optical component 14 to achieve two-dimensional scanning. The receiving device is a corresponding two-dimensional array detector 16, and the receiving optical component 18 focuses the echo light to the corresponding detector 16 for reception and detection.

[0006] The existing technology of separate transmission and reception requires alignment of the transmission field of view and the reception field of view, which increases the difficulty of laser radar installation and adjustment and the complexity of the process. In addition, during use, laser radar is easily affected by various factors such as working environment or mechanical fatigue, resulting in the misalignment of transmission and reception, which leads to the performance degradation of radar.

[0007] Therefore, it is necessary to design a new radar transceiver system to solve the various technical problems brought about by the discrete transceiver solution introduced above. Summary of the invention

[0008] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a transceiver, comprising: a light emitting layer, the light emitting layer comprising at least one light emitter, the light emitter being suitable for generating and emitting emitted light; a light detection layer, the light emitting layer being stacked on the light detection layer, the light detection layer comprising at least one detection unit, the detection unit being configured to receive and detect incident light, and a beam combining layer, the beam combining layer being arranged on the optical path of the emitted light and the incident light, and being configured to at least partially separate the incident light from the emitted light.

[0009] Preferably, the light emitting layer includes a substrate and at least one light emitter, the first surface of the light emitting layer includes a metal layer, the metal layer is connected to the electrode of the light emitter, and wherein the metal layer includes at least one light exit hole corresponding to a light exit window of at least one of the light emitters.

[0010] Preferably, the optical detection layer includes a substrate and at least one detection unit, and the metal layer further includes at least one light entrance hole, and the light entrance hole corresponds to the photosensitive surface of the detection unit.

[0011] Preferably, the light exit hole has a first size, the light entrance hole has a second size, and the second size is set to be no smaller than the first size.

[0012] Preferably, the second size is larger than the first size, and not larger than 1.1 times of the first size.

[0013] Preferably, the beam combining layer includes a substrate and a beam combining component arranged in the substrate, and the beam combining component includes: a beam splitting element and a reflecting element, the beam splitting element is configured to allow at least a portion of the emitted light from the light emitter to pass through it, and to allow at least a portion of the incident light to be reflected by it, so as to at least partially separate the incident light from the emitted light; the reflecting element reflects the incident light reflected by the beam splitting element to the detection unit.

[0014] Preferably, the light emitter is configured to emit linearly polarized light, and the beam splitting element comprises a polarization beam splitting element.

[0015] Preferably, the first surface of the beam combining layer comprises a quarter wave plate.

[0016] Preferably, the light splitting element comprises: a proportional reflector; or a reflector that partially transmits and partially reflects in space.

[0017] Preferably, the light emitting layer comprises a plurality of light emitters, and the plurality of light emitters are arranged in an array within a substrate of the light emitting layer; the beam combining layer comprises a plurality of beam combining components, and the beam combining components correspond one-to-one to the light emitters.

[0018] Preferably, the material of the substrate includes silicon.

[0019] Preferably, a first pad is provided on the first surface of the beam-combining layer; a second pad is provided on the second surface of the beam-combining layer, the second pad is configured to be electrically connected to the metal layer of the light-emitting layer, and the beam-combining layer includes a metallized through hole to electrically connect the first pad and the second pad.

[0020] Preferably, a filter is disposed on the second surface of the beam combining layer, and the filter is disposed in the path of the incident light.

[0021] Preferably, the bandwidth of the filter is set to be compatible with the spectral width of the light emitter.

[0022] Preferably, the optical detection layer comprises a plurality of detection units, and the plurality of detection units are arranged in an array within a substrate of the optical detection layer and correspond one-to-one to the beam combining components, and the detection unit comprises one or more optical detectors.

[0023] Preferably, the photodetector comprises one or more of a single photon avalanche diode, a silicon photomultiplier tube, an avalanche photodiode or a photodiode.

[0024] Preferably, the transceiver device further comprises a circuit layer, the light detection layer is stacked on the circuit layer, and the circuit layer is configured to receive the electrical signal from the detection unit.

[0025] Preferably, the light detection layer and the circuit layer are electrically connected via hybrid bonding.

[0026] The present invention also provides a laser radar, comprising: any transceiver as described above, and an optical component, wherein the optical component is arranged on the optical path of the emitted light and the incident light, the emitted light generated by the transceiver is collimated by the optical component and then emitted to the external space, and the incident light reflected by an obstacle is converged by the optical component to the transceiver.

[0027] The present invention also provides a data processing method, comprising: using a detection unit in the optical detection layer of any of the above-mentioned transceiver devices to detect incident light, the detection unit comprising multiple optical detectors; obtaining the intensity of optical signals received by one or more non-saturated optical detectors; and obtaining the intensity of incident light received by the detection unit based on the intensity of optical signals received by the one or more non-saturated optical detectors.

[0028] Preferably, based on the intensity of the light signal received by the one or more non-saturated light detectors, the intensity of the incident light received by the detection unit is obtained according to the intensity distribution of the incident light on the photosensitive surface of the detection unit.

[0029] Compared with the prior art, the present invention can at least achieve the following advantages:

[0030] 1. The present invention stacks the light emitting layer and the light detecting layer and uses a beam combining layer to separate the incident light from the emitted light, thereby integrating the light emitter and the detection unit into the transceiver, so that the relative positions of the light emitter and the detection unit are fixed, and there is no need to align and adjust the emission field of view and the receiving field of view, which greatly simplifies the difficulty of adjustment; and the transceiver of the present invention can maintain the relative position of the light emitter and the detection unit during operation, which is not easy to deviate, thereby improving the working stability;

[0031] 2. When the transceiver of the present invention is set in, for example, a laser radar, the emitted light and the incident light can share the same optical components, thereby making the structure of the laser radar compact, which is beneficial to compressing the volume of the laser radar and facilitating installation;

[0032] 3. A metal layer is provided on the light emitting layer in the transceiver of the present invention for electrical connection of the light emitter, and the size of the light entrance hole formed on the metal layer is preferably set to be larger than the size of the light exit hole and not larger than 1.1 times or 1.05 times the size of the light exit hole, so that more incident light reflected by obstacles can be received, and the received light energy can be increased, thereby enhancing the detection capability, especially the detection performance of long-distance obstacles, and preventing excessive ambient light from entering the detection unit through the light entrance hole, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio;

[0033] 4. In the transceiver of the present invention, the emission area is determined by the light exit hole of the light emission layer and is no longer limited by the filling factor of the laser itself. Therefore, the power density of the laser is increased several times;

[0034] 5. In the embodiment of the present invention, the beam combining layer and the light emitting layer are bonded together, and the working temperature of the two layers is always consistent. The temperature of the filter on the beam combining layer and the light emitter in the light emitting layer can also be consistent, so there is no relative temperature drift difference between the emission and incident spectral windows. The filter arranged on the beam combining layer can be a narrow-band filter. For example, the bandwidth of the filter is preferably consistent with the spectral width of the light emitter, and can have a bandwidth of less than 5nm, so as to greatly improve the filtering effect of interference light, improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and improve the distance measurement capability;

[0035] 6. In the transceiver device of the present invention, when the detection unit includes a plurality of light detectors, the dynamic response range of the detection unit can be improved, and the accuracy and precision of the detection result can be improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] In order to further illustrate the embodiments of the present invention, the embodiments of the present invention will be specifically presented with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that these drawings may only depict typical embodiments of the present invention and therefore will not be considered as limiting the scope of protection claimed by the present invention.

[0037] In addition, the drawings show main connection relationships or relative positional relationships of the components, rather than all of these relationships, and the components and connections in the drawings are not necessarily drawn according to actual proportions.

[0038] Figure 1A A simplified schematic diagram of a laser radar having separate transmitting and receiving devices is shown, wherein the light source of the transmitting device and the detector of the receiving device are both one-dimensional arrays;

[0039] Figure 1B A simplified schematic diagram of a laser radar having separate transmitting and receiving devices is shown, wherein the light source of the transmitting device and the detector of the receiving device are both two-dimensional arrays;

[0040] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing the structure of a transceiver according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0041] Figure 3 A cross-sectional view showing a transmission layer of a transceiver device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 4 A top view of a transmitting layer of a transceiver device according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0043] Figure 5A A graph showing the transmittance of 905nm and 940nm lasers in glasses of different thicknesses;

[0044] Figure 5B A graph showing the transmittance of 905nm and 940nm lasers in gallium arsenide of different thicknesses;

[0045] Figure 6 A schematic diagram showing the structure of a detector of a transceiver device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0046] Figure 7 A schematic diagram showing a transceiver and an optical component of a laser radar according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0047] Figure 8 A data processing method of a transceiver device according to the present invention is shown;

[0048] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the optical path of the transceiver according to the present invention is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] The following detailed description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example specific embodiments in which the claimed subject matter may be practiced. It should be understood that the following specific embodiments are intended to provide a specific description of typical examples for the purpose of illustration, but should not be understood as limiting the present invention; those skilled in the art may make appropriate modifications and adjustments to the disclosed embodiments on the premise of fully understanding the spirit and purpose of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter of the present invention.

[0050] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of each described embodiment. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the various embodiments described can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures are not described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the embodiments. Unless otherwise defined, the terms used herein shall have the same meanings as those commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs.

[0051] The terms "first", "second", etc. in the description and claims of the present application do not imply any order, quantity, or importance, but are merely used to distinguish different components or features.

[0052] The embodiments of the present application are exemplary implementations or examples. References to "embodiment", "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "alternative embodiments" or "other embodiments" in the specification mean that the specific features and configurations described in conjunction with the embodiments are included in at least some embodiments of the present technology, but not necessarily all embodiments. Various occurrences of "embodiment", "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Elements or aspects from one embodiment may be combined with elements or aspects of another embodiment.

[0053] In order to solve the above-mentioned various technical problems caused by the solution of separate transceiver devices in the prior art, the present invention proposes a transceiver device, comprising: a light emitting layer, the light emitting layer comprising at least one light emitter, the light emitter being suitable for generating and emitting emission light; a light detection layer, the light emitting layer being stacked on the light detection layer, the light detection layer comprising at least one detection unit, the detection unit being configured to receive and detect incident light, and a beam combining layer, the beam combining layer being arranged on the optical path of the emission light and the incident light, and being configured to at least partially separate the incident light from the emission light. By stacking the light emitting layer and the light detection layer, the incident light and the emission light are separated by the beam combining layer, so that the light emitter and the detection unit are integrated into the transceiver device, the relative position of the light emitter and the detection unit is fixed, and there is no need to align and adjust the emission field of view and the receiving field of view, which greatly simplifies the difficulty of adjustment; and the transceiver device of the embodiment of the present invention can maintain the relative position of the light emitter and the detection unit during operation, and is not prone to displacement, thereby improving the working stability.

[0054] Figure 2 FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a transceiver device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 As shown, the transceiver device 20 according to the present invention may mainly include a three-layer structure:

[0055] A light emitting layer 22, the light emitting layer 22 may include at least one light emitter 221, the light emitter 211 is suitable for generating and emitting emission light 222;

[0056] The light detection layer 23, the light emitting layer 22 may be stacked on the light detection layer 23, the light detection layer 23 may include at least one detection unit 231, and the detection unit 231 may be configured to receive and detect incident light 232;

[0057] The beam-combining layer 21 is disposed on the optical paths of the emitted light 222 and the incident light 232 , and the beam-combining layer 21 may be configured to at least partially separate the incident light 232 from the emitted light 222 .

[0058] Combination Figure 2 As shown, the emission light 222 emitted from at least one light emitter 221 of the light emission layer 22 can enter the beam combining layer 21 and pass through the beam combining layer 21 into the environment outside the transceiver 20. The emission light 222 reflected by obstacles in the external environment can return to the transceiver 20 and become incident light 232, also known as echo light. The beam combining layer 21 can be configured to separate at least a portion of the incident light 232 from the emission light 222, so that at least a portion of the incident light 232 can enter the light detection layer 23 and be received by the corresponding detection unit 231.

[0059] Furthermore, based on the analysis of the emitted light 222 and the incident light 232, the existence and / or characteristics of one or more obstacles in the environment can be detected, including one or more parameters such as the distance, direction, speed, posture, and even shape of the obstacle, thereby enabling detection, tracking and / or identification of the obstacle.

[0060] The present invention stacks the light emitting layer 22 including the light emitter 221 and the light detecting layer 23 including the detecting unit 231, and uses the beam combining layer 21 as the beam combining channel of the emitted light 222 and the incident light 232, that is, at least partially separates the incident light 232 from the emitted light 222, so that the incident light 232 can be received and detected by the detecting unit 231, thereby realizing the integration of the transceiver. Therefore, the relative position of the light emitter 221 and the detecting unit 231 in the transceiver 20 of the present invention is fixed, and after the transceiver 20 is prepared, the emission field of view and the receiving field of view are aligned, and no additional adjustment is required, thereby improving the assembly efficiency; and the relative position of the light emitter 221 and the detecting unit 231 is not easy to be offset during operation, and the alignment offset of the transceiver field of view will not be generated, thereby greatly improving the working reliability of the transceiver 20.

[0061] Figure 3 A cross-sectional view of the light emitting layer 22 of the transceiver device 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention is further shown.

[0062] In some embodiments of the present invention, Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, the light emitting layer 22 may include a substrate 223 and at least one light emitter 221. One or more light emitters 221 may be disposed in the substrate 223.

[0063] For example purposes, Figure 2 and Figure 3 , three light emitters 221 are shown. However, it should be understood that embodiments of the present invention may include any other number of light emitters 221. The light emitters 221 may include any form of laser, such as a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), a distributed feedback laser (DFB), an edge-emitting laser (EEL), or a light-emitting diode (LED).

[0064] The light emitter 221 includes an electrode (not shown in the figure), which is suitable for introducing current into the light emitter 221 to excite the light emitter 221 to generate emission light 222. Further, the emission light 222 is emitted outward from the light exit window of the light emitter 221.

[0065] Figure 4 FIG. 2 shows a top view of the transmitting layer 22 of the transceiver device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2-Figure 4 As shown, the first surface ( Figure 2 and Figure 3 The upper surface of the light emitting layer 22 shown in the figure may include a metal layer 224. The metal layer 224 may be connected to an electrode of at least one light emitter 221, so that the light emitter 221 can be electrically connected to an external circuit (not shown in the figure) through the metal layer 224. The external circuit can conduct a driving current to each light emitter 221 through the metal layer 224.

[0066] The metal layer 224 may include at least one light exit hole 225 to allow the emitted light 222 to pass through. More specifically, the metal layer 224 may include at least one light exit hole 225, and the light exit hole 225 may correspond to the light exit window of at least one light emitter 221, so that the emitted light 222 can be emitted from the light exit window and then through the light exit hole 225, and pass through the beam combining layer 21 to be emitted to the outside.

[0067] It should be noted that the correspondence between the light exit hole 225 and the light emitter 221 is not limited to the one-to-one correspondence shown in the drawings. In other embodiments of the present invention, the light exit hole 225 may correspond to a plurality of light emitters 221, that is, the light emitted by the plurality of light emitters 221 may be emitted from the light exit hole 225 as a beam of emitted light.

[0068] In traditional optical transmitters, taking VCSEL chips as an example, due to the existence of structures such as electrodes and current limiting layers, the filling factor of the laser (the proportion of the output optical cavity area to the total chip area) is low, and the light output power of the laser is limited, resulting in a low power density of the VCSEL chip. In the transceiver provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the emission area is determined by the light output hole of the light emitting layer and is no longer limited by the filling factor of the laser itself. As a result, the power density of the laser will be increased several times. For example, the diameter of the light output window of a typical traditional VCSEL laser chip is 20μm, the light output energy of a single light output window is 1.2W, and the chip power density is 1200W / mm 2 By using the transceiver of the present invention, the power density of a single light-emitting hole can reach 3800W / mm 2 .

[0069] In some embodiments of the present invention, Figure 2As shown, the optical detection layer 23 includes a substrate (not shown) and at least one detection unit 231. Figure 2 Three detection units 231 are shown. However, it should be understood that the present invention may include any other number of detection units 231. The detection unit 231 may perform photoelectric conversion on the incident light 232 and output a corresponding electrical signal for obtaining detection information.

[0070] The metal layer 224 may further include at least one light entrance hole 226 . The light entrance hole 226 may correspond to the photosensitive surface of the detection unit 231 , so that the incident light 232 can reach the photosensitive surface of the detection unit 231 through the light entrance hole 226 and be received and detected by the detection unit 231 .

[0071] Specifically, after the emitted light 222 is emitted from the light exit hole 225, it passes through the beam combining layer 21 to the outside of the transceiver 20. The incident light 232 is at least partially separated from the optical path of the emitted light 222 in the beam combining layer 21, and is guided to the light entrance hole 226. After passing through the light entrance hole 226, it is received by the detection unit 231, so that the transceiver 20 can realize the emission of the emitted light and the reception of the incident light. The alignment of the emission field of view and the reception field of view is realized by the setting of the light exit hole 225, the light entrance hole 226 and the beam combining layer 21.

[0072] In some specific embodiments of the present invention, the light exit hole 225 may be configured to have a first size, the light entrance hole 226 may be configured to have a second size, and the second size is configured to be no smaller than the first size.

[0073] It should be noted that the first size and the second size may be the diameter, cross-sectional area or perimeter of the light exit hole 225 and the light entrance hole 226, and the present invention is not limited thereto. In a specific embodiment, the first size is represented by the diameter d1 of the light exit hole 225, and the second size is represented by the diameter d2 of the light entrance hole, and d2≥d1 is satisfied.

[0074] refer to Figure 3 and Figure 4 As shown, the sizes of the light exit hole 225 and the light entrance hole 226 provided on the metal layer 224 of the emission layer 22 can respectively constrain the field of view of the emission light beam 222 and the incident light beam 232. In the embodiment of the present invention, the second size of the light entrance hole 226 is not less than the first size of the light exit hole 225, so that more incident light 232 reflected by obstacles is received, the received light energy is increased, and the detection capability is enhanced, especially the detection performance of long-distance obstacles.

[0075] In a preferred embodiment, the second size of the light entrance hole 226 is set to be larger than the first size of the light exit hole 225, and no larger than 1.1 times the first size, or no larger than 1.05 times the first size d1, thereby preventing excessive ambient light from passing through the light entrance hole 226 and entering the detection unit 231, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio.

[0076] In some specific embodiments of the present invention, reference Figure 2 As shown, the beam combining layer 21 of the transceiver 20 may include a substrate (not shown in the figure) and one or more beam combining components (not shown in the figure) disposed in the substrate. Specifically, the beam combining component includes: a beam splitting element, through which at least a portion of the emitted light 222 from the light emitter 221 can pass, and at least a portion of the incident light 232 is reflected by the beam splitting element; and a reflective element, which reflects the incident light 232 reflected by the beam splitting element to the light entrance hole 226.

[0077] In some preferred embodiments, the light emitted by the light emitter 221 has a certain divergence angle, and the cross-section of the light beam reaching the beam splitter element is larger than the cross-section of the light beam at the light exit hole 225. Therefore, in order to reduce the loss of light energy, the cross-sectional size of the beam splitter element on a plane parallel to the surface of the light exit hole 225 can be set to be not less than the size of the light exit hole 225. Preferably, the cross-sectional size of the beam splitter element on a plane parallel to the surface of the light exit hole 225 is larger than the size of the light exit hole 225.

[0078] In some specific embodiments, the beam splitter element includes a support 216 and a beam splitter surface 211, wherein the emitted light 222 can pass through the support 216 and the beam splitter surface 211. The beam splitter surface 211 can reflect the incident light 232. The reflective element includes a support (not shown) and a reflective surface 212, wherein the reflective surface 212 reflects the incident light 232 reflected by the beam splitter surface 211 again, so that the incident light 232 can enter the light entrance hole 226.

[0079] Specifically, the support bodies of the beam splitter element and the reflective element can be made of a light-transmitting material, and the material of the support body of the beam splitter element and the material of the support body of the reflective element can be the same or different. In a specific example, at least one of the support body of the beam splitter element and the support body of the reflective element is made of a polymer material. In another specific example, at least one of the support body of the beam splitter element and the support body of the reflective element includes an epoxy resin.

[0080] The light splitting surface 211 and the reflecting surface 212 have a non-zero angle with the surface of the light emitting layer 22. In some preferred embodiments, the emitted light 222 is emitted perpendicularly to the surface of the light emitting layer 22, and the light splitting surface 211 and the reflecting surface 212 respectively have an angle of 45° with the light emitting layer 22, so that the optical path of the incident light 232 after being reflected by the light splitting surface 211 is substantially parallel to the surface of the light emitting layer 22, and the optical path of the incident light after being reflected by the reflecting surface 212 is substantially perpendicular to the surface of the light emitting layer 22, so that the incident light 232 passes through the light-entering hole 226, passes through the light emitting layer 22, and is received by the photosensitive surface of the detection unit 231 in the light detection layer 23.

[0081] In some specific embodiments of the present invention, the emission light 222 emitted by the light emitter 221 is linearly polarized light. Accordingly, the beam splitter element may include a polarizing beam splitter (PBS). Figure 2 A 1 / 4 wave plate 213 may be provided on the upper surface of the substrate.

[0082] The linearly polarized light emitted by the light emitter 221 is emitted after passing through the PBS, and the emitted light 222 and the incident light 232 respectively pass through the 1 / 4 wave plate 213, so that the polarization states of the incident light 232 and the emitted light 222 are perpendicular, so that the incident light 232 can be reflected by the PBS and separated from the emitted light 222. The incident light 232 reflected by the PBS is further reflected by the reflective surface 212 of the reflective element to the light entrance hole 226 and the detection unit 231.

[0083] In some other embodiments of the present invention, the beam splitting element uses a proportional reflector or a reflector that partially transmits and partially reflects in space to achieve light-receiving and light-beam splitting. In this case, the light emitter 221 does not need to be configured to emit linearly polarized light, which can reduce the process difficulty.

[0084] In some embodiments of the present invention, the light emitting layer 22 may include a plurality of light emitters 221, and the plurality of light emitters 221 may be arranged in an array within a substrate 223 of the light emitting layer 22. The plurality of light emitters 221 may be arranged in a one-dimensional array or a two-dimensional array, which is not limited in the present invention.

[0085] Correspondingly, the beam combining layer 21 includes a plurality of beam combining components, which correspond to the light emitters 221 one by one, and respectively realize the optical path separation of the emitted light 222 emitted by each light emitter 221 and the corresponding incident light 232 .

[0086] In other embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of beam combining components correspond to the light exit holes 225 one by one, respectively, to separate the optical paths of the emitted light 222 emitted by each light exit hole 225 and the corresponding incident light 232 .

[0087] In some embodiments of the present invention, the base material of the beam-combining layer 21 is a material that is transparent to the emitted light and the incident light, that is, the base of the beam-combining layer 21 allows the emitted light 222 and the incident light 232 to pass through and minimizes absorption. In some specific embodiments, the base material of the beam-combining layer 21 is an inorganic material to reduce process complexity.

[0088] In some specific embodiments of the present invention, the base material of the beam combining layer 21 includes silicon. Specifically, the base material of the beam combining layer 21 may include glass, so that the material and process costs of the beam combining layer 21 are relatively low. Furthermore, the operating wavelengths of lasers commonly used for obstacle detection include 905nm and 940nm. Figure 5A A graph showing the transmittance of 905nm and 940nm lasers in glasses of different thicknesses.

[0089] Depend on Figure 5A It can be seen that the transmittance of light with a wavelength of 940 nm in glass is higher than that of light with a wavelength of 905 nm. In some specific embodiments of the present invention, the operating wavelength of the light emitter 221 includes 940 nm to increase the transmittance of the emitted light 222 and the incident light 232 in the beam combining layer 21 .

[0090] In some preferred embodiments, the substrate material of the light emitting layer 22 includes gallium arsenide. Figure 5B A graph showing the transmittance of 905nm and 940nm lasers in gallium arsenide of different thicknesses.

[0091] Depend on Figure 5B It can be seen that the transmittance of light with a wavelength of 940nm in the gallium arsenide material is higher than that of light with a wavelength of 905nm, especially as the thickness of the gallium arsenide material increases, the transmittance of light with a wavelength of 940nm is more significantly higher than that of light with a wavelength of 905nm. Even if the thickness of the gallium arsenide material reaches 300μm, the transmittance of light with a wavelength of 940nm can reach more than 90%.

[0092] Combination Figure 2As shown, in some specific embodiments of the present invention, the first surface of the beam-combining layer 21 may be provided with a first pad 217, and the second surface of the beam-combining layer 21 may be provided with a second pad 218, wherein the first surface is opposite to the second surface. Specifically, the second surface of the beam-combining layer 21 is connected to the first surface of the light-emitting layer 22, and the second pad 218 is used to be electrically connected to the metal layer 224 of the light-emitting layer 22. In addition, the beam-combining layer 21 may also include a metallized through hole 219, and the metallized through hole 219 is used to electrically connect the first pad 217 and the second pad 218. The first pad 217 can be electrically connected to an external circuit, such as a driving circuit, so that the driving signal provided by the driving circuit is respectively transmitted to the corresponding light emitter 221 through the first pad 217, the metallized through hole 219, the second pad 218, and the metal layer 224 to drive the light emitter 221 to emit light.

[0093] It should be noted that the electrodes of the multiple light emitters 221 may be connected to each other through the metal layer 224 , and the driving signal conducted by the metal layer 224 may drive the multiple light emitters 221 to emit light simultaneously.

[0094] In other embodiments, a plurality of metal layers 224 may be provided on the first surface of the light emitting layer 22, and are electrically connected through a plurality of second pads 218, metallized through holes 219 and first pads 217, respectively. Each metal layer 224 may be connected to an electrode of one or more light emitters 221, and the one or more light emitters 221 constitute an emission unit, which generates emission light in response to a driving signal; different emission units are connected to different metal layers 224, and can generate corresponding emission light respectively under the driving of the same or different timings or different amplitudes of the driving signals. Through the configuration of the driving signal, different emission units can emit emission light with different timings, powers, pulse widths, or pulse numbers, so that the transceiver 20 can meet different detection requirements.

[0095] In some specific embodiments of the present invention, reference Figure 2 As shown, a filter 214 is disposed on the second surface of the beam combining layer 21 , and the filter 214 is disposed in the path of the incident light 232 , allowing light of the working wavelength to pass through and filtering out interference light.

[0096] In an exemplary embodiment, the filter 214 may be a plating layer or a coating plated on the second surface of the beam-combining layer 21 .

[0097] In other embodiments, the filter 214 may be disposed on a support of the reflective element. Specifically, the filter 214 may be disposed on a surface of the support of the reflective element that faces the optical path of the incident light 232 .

[0098] In the existing scheme, since the wavelength of the optical transmitter (for example, laser) has temperature drift (referred to as temperature drift), that is, the wavelength of the light emitted by the optical transmitter changes with temperature, the bandwidth of the filter needs to be set to cover the temperature drift and spectrum width of the laser, usually above 12nm, to ensure that the incident light corresponding to the emitted light can pass through the filter. Such a bandwidth will allow more interference light to pass through the filter, thereby interfering with the detection of the incident light and reducing the signal-to-noise ratio.

[0099] In the embodiment of the present invention, the beam combining layer 21 and the light emitting layer 22 are connected together, and the operating temperatures of the two layers are always kept consistent. The temperature of the filter 214 on the beam combining layer 21 and the light emitter 221 in the light emitting layer 22 can also be kept consistent, so there is no relative temperature drift difference between the emission and incident spectral windows. Therefore, the filter 214 provided on the beam combining layer 21 can be a narrowband filter, and its bandwidth can be adapted to the spectral width of the light emitter in the light emitting layer 22. In some preferred embodiments, the bandwidth of the filter 214 is consistent with the spectral width of the light emitter 231. Specifically, the bandwidth of the filter 214 is below 5nm, which can greatly improve the filtering effect of interference light, improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and improve the distance measurement capability.

[0100] In some embodiments of the present invention, the optical detection layer 23 may include a plurality of detection units 231, which are arranged in an array in the substrate of the optical detection layer 23 and correspond one-to-one to the beam combining components. That is, the detection unit 231 corresponds one-to-one to the optical emitter 221 and the beam combining component, respectively. Therefore, after the emission light 222 emitted by the optical emitter 221 is emitted through the beam combining component, the corresponding incident light 232 is separated from the optical path of the emission light 222, and the incident light 232 is reflected by the beam combining component to the detection unit 231 and received by the corresponding detection unit 231.

[0101] Furthermore, each detection unit 231 may include one or more light detectors.

[0102] In a preferred embodiment, each detection unit 231 includes a plurality of photodetectors. When the intensity of the incident light 232 is relatively high, the photodetector is prone to saturation. If the detection unit 231 includes only one photodetector, the saturated photodetector cannot detect again within the recovery time. At this time, each detection unit 231 includes a plurality of photodetectors. When some photodetectors are saturated, other photodetectors can perform detection within their recovery time, thereby obtaining more accurate detection results and expanding the dynamic response range of the detection unit 231. Preferably, the size and photon detection efficiency (PDE) of each photodetector in the detection unit 231 are substantially equal, and the performance of each photodetector is consistent.

[0103] In some specific embodiments, the detection unit 231 may include any suitable photodetector, such as one or more of a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD), a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), an avalanche photodiode (APD), or a photodiode (PD).

[0104] In some preferred embodiments, the photodetector comprises a back-side illumination (BSI) SPAD. Figure 6 A schematic structural diagram of a light detector of a transceiver device according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0105] It should be noted that Figure 6 Only part of the structure of the photodetector is shown as an illustration. Figure 6 As shown, SPAD is used as a specific example for introduction. SPAD includes a substrate 2314 and a pn junction 2315. The pn junction 2315 is prepared in the substrate and is suitable for photoelectric conversion. SPAD also includes a deep trench isolation (DTI) structure 2313 for photoelectric isolation between different SPADs. The back side of the substrate of BSI SPAD serves as the light incident surface 2311. The incident light 232 enters the SPAD through the light incident surface 2311 and is absorbed by the substrate 2314 of the SPAD. The surface of the substrate of BSI SPAD is provided with a metal layer 2312, which is electrically connected to the electrode of the SPAD and is used to be electrically connected to the readout circuit to output the SPAD electrical signal to the readout circuit.

[0106] Reference again Figure 2 The transceiver device 20 of the embodiment of the present invention further includes a circuit layer 24 , on which the optical detection layer 23 is stacked, and the circuit layer 24 is capable of receiving electrical signals from the detection unit 231 in the optical detection layer 23 .

[0107] In some specific embodiments, the circuit layer 24 includes a readout circuit, a signal processing circuit, etc., which can read the electrical signal output by the detection unit 231 and perform data processing.

[0108] The beam combining layer 21 and the light emitting layer 22, the light emitting layer 22 and the light detecting layer 23, and the light detecting layer 23 and the circuit layer 24 are respectively fixedly connected. Specifically, the light emitting layer 22 can be a laser chip, the light detecting layer 23 can be a detector chip, and the circuit layer 24 can be an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip. Further, the beam combining layer 21 and the light emitting layer 22, and the light emitting layer 22 and the light detecting layer 23 are connected by a transparent material 26. In some specific embodiments, the beam combining layer 21 and the light emitting layer 22, or the light emitting layer 22 and the light detecting layer 23 are connected by a transparent resin.

[0109] refer to Figure 2 and Figure 6 As shown, a metal layer is provided on the surface opposite to the circuit layer 24 of the optical detection layer 23, which is used to be electrically connected to the circuit layer 24. In some preferred embodiments, the optical detection layer 23 and the circuit layer 24 are electrically connected by hybrid bonding, and the detection unit 231 included in the optical detection layer 23 and the electrical signal of each optical detector included in the detection unit 231 can be read by the circuit in the circuit layer 24. Specifically, the sampling period of the electrical signal of the detection unit 231 by the circuit in the circuit layer 24 is ns or hundreds of ps, so as to improve the signal processing rate and detection accuracy.

[0110] The present invention further provides a laser radar, including a transceiver and an optical component, wherein the transceiver is suitable for emitting transmitted light and receiving incident light reflected by an obstacle; the optical component is arranged on the optical path of the transmitted light and the incident light, the transmitted light generated by the transceiver is collimated by the optical component and then emitted to the external space, and the incident light reflected by an obstacle is converged to the transceiver through the optical component.

[0111] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a laser radar transceiver 20 and an optical component 25 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0112] refer to Figure 7 , combined with reference Figure 2-6 As shown, the laser radar of the embodiment of the present invention includes a transceiver 20, which can be the above-mentioned transceiver 20, and will not be described in detail here. The laser radar also includes an optical component 25, which is arranged on the optical path of the emitted light and the incident light. The emitted light generated by the transceiver 20 is collimated by the optical component 25 and then emitted to the external space, and the incident light reflected by the obstacle is converged to the transceiver 20 through the optical component 25.

[0113] In a specific embodiment, the optical component 25 may include a lens or a lens group. The optical component 25 may further include a scanning mirror, which may include a galvanometer mirror, a swing mirror, or a rotating mirror.

[0114] According to the laser radar of the embodiment of the present invention, the transceiver 20 includes a light emitting layer and a light detecting layer, and separates the optical paths of the emitted light and the incident light through a beam combining layer. The emission field of view and the receiving field of view can be aligned through the transceiver 20, which greatly simplifies the difficulty of installation and adjustment. Moreover, the transceiver 20 of the laser radar of the embodiment of the present invention can maintain the relative positions of the light emitter and the detection unit during operation, and is not prone to offset, thereby improving the performance stability of the laser radar. In addition, the emitted light and the incident light can share the optical component 25, which makes the structure of the laser radar compact, is conducive to compressing the volume of the laser radar, and is easy to install. Moreover, the emission field of view and the receiving field of view of the laser radar overlap, which is not only conducive to reducing the difficulty of installation and adjustment, but also can improve the receiving efficiency of the incident light and improve the detection capability of the laser radar.

[0115] The present invention further provides a data processing method. Figure 8 FIG. 8 shows a data processing method 80 based on the transceiver device 20 of the present invention. Figure 8 As shown, the data processing method 80 provided in the embodiment of the present invention includes:

[0116] Step 802, using a detection unit to receive detection light, the detection unit may be the detection unit 231 in the light detection layer 23 of the transceiver 20 provided in the embodiment of the present invention, and its structure may refer to the above description, which will not be repeated here. The detection unit includes a plurality of light detectors.

[0117] The data processing method 90 further comprises:

[0118] Step 804, obtaining the intensity of the optical signal received by one or more non-saturated optical detectors in the detection unit 231;

[0119] Step 806 , based on the light signal intensity received by one or more non-saturated light detectors, obtain the incident light intensity received by the detection unit 231 .

[0120] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the optical path of the transceiver device 20 according to the present invention is shown. Fig. 9 The same reference numerals are used to indicate the components corresponding to the preferred embodiment of the transceiver device 20 described above, and they will not be described in detail herein.

[0121] Fig. 9 The detection unit 231 shown in FIG. 2 may preferably include a plurality of light detectors ( Fig. 927 shows the intensity distribution of the incident light received by the surface of the detection unit 231. As can be seen from the light intensity 27, the intensity distribution of the incident light incident from the light entrance hole on the surfaces of the multiple light detectors of the detection unit 231 is not uniform, and the light detectors near the center area can detect a higher intensity of the incident light, while the light detectors near the edge area can detect a weaker intensity of the incident light.

[0122] In some embodiments of the present invention, when the obstacle is close to the laser radar or has a high reflectivity, the intensity of the incident light reflected by it is high, and the light detectors near the central area are easily saturated, while the light detectors near the edge area are relatively not easy to saturate. At this time, the signals detected by these light detectors on the incident light can be used as detection data, which can obtain more accurate detection results. When the obstacle is far away from the laser radar or has a low reflectivity, the intensity of the incident light reflected by it is low, and the light signals received by the light detectors near the edge area are very weak, making it difficult to obtain effective detection results. At this time, the signals detected by the light detectors near the central area on the incident light can be used as detection data to improve the accuracy of the detection results. Accordingly, when the detection unit 231 includes multiple light detectors, the dynamic response range of the detection unit can be improved, and the accuracy and precision of the detection results can be improved.

[0123] In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, Fig. 9 As shown in distribution 27 in FIG. 1 , the intensity of the optical signal received from the light entrance hole has a certain distribution characteristic, and the intensity of the incident light can be obtained based on the distribution characteristic.

[0124] In a specific implementation, based on the intensity distribution of the incident light on the detection unit 231, the relationship between the light intensities that can be received by light detectors at different positions is obtained, and then based on the light signal intensity received by one or more unsaturated light detectors and the proportion of the light intensities that can be received by the one or more unsaturated light detectors in the total light intensity on the detection unit 231, the total light intensity received by the detection unit 231 is obtained.

[0125] It should be understood that the description of position and direction in this specification is made in conjunction with the specific embodiments shown in the drawings, and is therefore a relative position description. In other embodiments where the placement direction of the device or apparatus is opposite or different from the direction shown in the drawings, these position descriptions may be changed accordingly.

[0126] Therefore, without departing from the spirit and purpose of the present invention, those skilled in the art may make appropriate modifications and adjustments to the embodiments specifically described above. Therefore, it is intended that the subject matter claimed for protection is not limited to the specific examples disclosed, and these subject matters claimed for protection may also include all implementations falling within the scope of the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A transceiver device, comprising: a light emitting layer, the light emitting layer comprising at least one light emitter, the light emitter being adapted to generate and emit emission light; a light detection layer, the light emitting layer being stacked on the light detection layer, the light detection layer comprising at least one detection unit, the detection unit being configured to receive and detect incident light, and A beam combining layer is disposed on optical paths of the emitted light and the incident light and is configured to at least partially separate the incident light from the emitted light.

2. The transceiver according to claim 1, wherein: The light emitting layer comprises a substrate and at least one light emitter, The first surface of the light emitting layer includes a metal layer, the metal layer is connected to the electrode of the light emitter, and Wherein, the metal layer comprises at least one light exit hole, and the light exit hole corresponds to a light exit window of at least one of the light emitters.

3. The transceiver device according to claim 2, wherein: The light detection layer comprises a substrate and at least one detection unit, The metal layer further comprises at least one light entrance hole, and the light entrance hole corresponds to the photosensitive surface of the detection unit.

4. The transceiver device according to claim 3, wherein: The light exit hole has a first size, the light entrance hole has a second size, and the second size is set to be not smaller than the first size.

5. The transceiver according to claim 4, wherein: The second size is larger than the first size and is not larger than 1.1 times of the first size.

6. The transceiver according to claim 1, wherein: The beam combining layer includes a substrate and a beam combining component arranged in the substrate, and the beam combining component includes: a beam splitting element and a reflecting element, the beam splitting element is configured to allow at least a portion of the emitted light from the light emitter to pass through it, and to allow at least a portion of the incident light to be reflected by it, so as to at least partially separate the incident light from the emitted light; the reflecting element reflects the incident light reflected by the beam splitting element to the detection unit.

7. The transceiver according to claim 6, wherein: The light emitter is configured to emit linearly polarized light, and the beam splitting element comprises a polarization beam splitting element.

8. The transceiver according to claim 7, wherein: The first surface of the beam combining layer includes a quarter wave plate.

9. The transceiver device according to claim 6, wherein: The light splitting element comprises: proportional reflector; or A mirror that partially transmits and partially reflects in space.

10. The transceiver according to claim 6, wherein: The light emitting layer comprises a plurality of light emitters, and the plurality of light emitters are arranged in an array within a substrate of the light emitting layer; The beam combining layer includes a plurality of beam combining components, and the beam combining components correspond to the light emitters one by one.

11. The transceiver according to claim 6, wherein: The material of the substrate includes silicon.

12. The transceiver device according to claim 2, wherein: A first welding pad is provided on the first surface of the beam combining layer; The second surface of the beam combining layer is provided with a second pad, and the second pad is configured to be electrically connected to the metal layer of the light emitting layer, and The beam combining layer includes a metallized through hole to electrically connect the first pad and the second pad.

13. The transceiver device according to claim 1, wherein: A filter is disposed on the second surface of the beam combining layer, and the filter is disposed in the path of the incident light.

14. The transceiver device according to claim 13, wherein: The bandwidth of the filter is set to adapt to the spectral width of the light emitter.

15. The transceiver according to claim 6, wherein: The optical detection layer includes a plurality of detection units, which are arranged in an array within the substrate of the optical detection layer and correspond one-to-one to the beam combining components. The detection unit includes one or more optical detectors.

16. The transceiver device according to claim 15, wherein: The photodetector includes one or more of a single photon avalanche diode, a silicon photomultiplier tube, an avalanche photodiode or a photodiode. 17 . The transceiver device according to claim 1 , further comprising a circuit layer, the light detection layer being stacked on the circuit layer, and the circuit layer being configured to receive the electrical signal from the detection unit.

18. The transceiver device according to claim 17, wherein: The light detection layer is electrically connected to the circuit layer through hybrid bonding.

19. A laser radar, comprising: The transceiver device according to any one of claims 1 to 18, and An optical component is arranged on the optical path of the emitted light and the incident light. The emitted light generated by the transceiver is collimated by the optical component and then emitted to the external space. The incident light reflected by the obstacle is converged to the transceiver through the optical component.

20. A data processing method, comprising: Detecting incident light using a detection unit in the optical detection layer of the transceiver device according to any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the detection unit comprises a plurality of optical detectors; Obtaining the intensity of light signals received by one or more non-saturated light detectors; The intensity of incident light received by the detection unit is acquired based on the intensity of the light signals received by the one or more non-saturated light detectors.

21. The data processing method according to claim 20, wherein: Based on the intensity of the light signal received by the one or more non-saturated light detectors, the intensity of the incident light received by the detection unit is acquired according to the intensity distribution of the incident light on the photosensitive surface of the detection unit.

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