372 results about "Avalanche diode" patented technology

The invention discloses a double-comb non-cooperative target ranging system based on single photon detection, which is characterized in that an optical pulse output by a first optical frequency comb is divided into two paths of light through a first beam splitter, the first path of light is combined with one of two paths of light divided by a second optical frequency comb through a second beam splitter, and the combined light is transmitted to a first nonlinear frequency up-conversion module; a sum frequency light pulse in the wave band of 780 nm is generated and detected by a base avalanche diode photoelectric detector, and then a time-dependent single photon counter is triggered to start counting; the second path of light is output to a beam expanding collimator through the circulator and irradiates a target to be measured through spatial propagation, the beam expanding collimator collects diffuse reflection light and returns the diffuse reflection light to a third port of the circulator along the original path, and the diffuse reflection light and the other path of light split by the second optical frequency comb through the second beam splitter are combined and transmitted to a second nonlinear frequency up-conversion module; the up-conversion light after sum frequency conversion passes through the optical filter group and then is recorded by a stop end of the single photon counting module, multi-cycle accumulative statistics is carried out by the time correlation single photon counter, and finally a photon counting waveform is reconstructed and the flight time difference of the to-be-measured target is calculated by the computer.

The invention provides a single-photon avalanche diode and a single-photon detector, and relates to the technical field of semiconductor photoelectric detection, and the single-photon avalanche diode comprises a plurality of avalanche diode units. The avalanche diode units are sequentially stacked in the propagation direction of incident light to be detected. Each avalanche diode unit is provided with an electric field control module which is used for independently adjusting the bias electric field of each avalanche diode unit. In the propagation direction of the incident light, the avalanche diode unit of the next stage is used for absorbing the remaining photons which are not absorbed by the avalanche diode unit of the previous stage and generating carriers, so that avalanche current is formed. The light absorption wavelength ranges of adjacent avalanche diode units are at least partially overlapped. The single-photon avalanche diode solves the problem that the existing single-photon avalanche diode cannot balance high detection efficiency and low dark current, and achieves the purpose of improving the detection efficiency of a single-photon detector on the premise of not increasing the dark current.

An image sensing device is provided to include a first pixel including a first single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) that includes a cathode to receive a first bias voltage; a second pixel including a second SPAD that includes an anode to receive a second bias voltage; and a selection circuit coupled to the first pixel and the second pixel and configured to select the first pixel or the second pixel to produce an output.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an avalanche diode, a detection unit configured to detect an avalanche current generated by avalanche multiplication in the avalanche diode, a switch disposed between the avalanche diode and the detection unit, and a reset unit configured to reset a node between the switch and the detection unit. The reset unit resets the node during a period in which the switch is in an off state.

The infrared-enhanced single-photon avalanche diode device comprises a P + photosensitive region located at the center of the surface of the device, a P-injection region surrounding the outer side of the P + photosensitive region, a deep N well surrounding the outer side of the P-injection region, and a P-type substrate surrounding the outer side of the deep N well; the P + photosensitive region, the P-injection region and the deep N well are flush with the upper surface of the P-type substrate; the P + photosensitive region is used as a photosensitive surface to absorb photons, and a metal anode is led out from the surface to form ohmic contact; a P-type charge layer is embedded in the P-injection region, an N-buried layer is embedded in the deep N well, the N-buried layer is located below the P-type charge layer, and the P-type charge layer and the N-buried layer are located at the central position of the device; and the N buried layer forms a main avalanche region with a deeper depth. According to the invention, the detection efficiency of the silicon-based single-photon avalanche diode in a near-infrared band can be effectively improved.

The invention relates to an Imaging sensor device in a stacked arrangement comprising:a pixel array tier comprising a plurality of pixel segments each having a plurality of pixels for photon detection each providing a digital pixel output;a processing tier comprising a number of processing cores each associated with one of the plurality of pixel segments to receive the pixel outputs of the pixels of the respective pixel segment, wherein the processing cores are each in bidirectional communication with one or more neighboring processing cores,wherein the processing cores are each configured to receive pixel outputs of the pixels of the associated pixel segments and to distribute processing of pixel outputs between the processing core and the at least one of the neighboring processing cores as neighboring processing cores.

An image sensor pixel is provided that includes a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD), an analog counter coupled to a cathode terminal of the SPAD, and a comparator having a first input coupled to a floating diffusion node in the analog counter, a second input configured to receive a reference voltage, and a clock input configured to receive a comparator clock signal from the analog counter. The image sensor pixel can further include an analog memory circuit selectively coupled to an output of the comparator. The analog memory circuit can include a read enable switch coupled between the output of the comparator and a storage node and a plurality of capacitors coupled to the storage node via respective switches.

The present invention relates to a single photon avalanche diodes-based time-of-flight sensor (100). The single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) based time-of-flight (ToF) sensor (100) includes an Nx N single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) photodetector (101), a front-end (FE) unit (103), a pulse shaping (PS) unit (105), a pulse store unit (107), a peak detection unit (109), a digital logic unit (111), a timing processing circuitry unit (113), and memory elements unit (115). Due to integration of multiple units in single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) based time-of-flight (ToF) sensor (100), the single photon avalanche diodes-based time-of-flight (ToF) sensor (100) accurately measures distance by adequate, suitable, and efficient elimination of background light.

The invention relates to a time-resolved spectral measurement method, device and equipment based on a multi-event time-to-digital converter, and a medium, and the method comprises the steps: carrying out the histogram statistics of photon signals of different time responses in each column of single-photon avalanche diodes in different laser pulse periods through the multi-event time-to-digital converter, the photon signal distribution of the photon signal of the specific wavelength corresponding to each column of single-photon avalanche diodes in different laser pulse periods is determined; the multi-event time-to-digital converter carries out delay combination on photon signal distribution in different laser pulse periods so as to determine a photon lifetime curve corresponding to the photon signal of the specific wavelength of each column of single-photon avalanche diodes. And integrating the photon lifetime curves corresponding to the photon signals of the specific wavelength of each column of single-photon avalanche diodes so as to construct the time-resolved spectrum of the sample to be detected. According to the invention, counting loss or time error caused by dead time can be reduced.

An avalanche diode arrangement includes a three-dimensional integrated circuit including a stack with at least a top-tier and a bottom-tier. The avalanche diode arrangement also includes a breakdown voltage monitor circuit. The top-tier includes an array of avalanche diodes. The bottom-tier includes an array of integrated light sources, located below the top-tier. In a calibration mode of operation, the light sources are operable to emit light towards the avalanche diodes. The breakdown voltage monitor circuit is operable to adjust bias voltages of the avalanche diodes depending on trigger events induced by light emitted by the light sources during the calibration mode of operation.

The invention discloses a high-speed turn-off gating circuit, device and system for a single-photon detector, and belongs to the field of optical time domain reflectometers. A quenching broadening circuit is used for carrying out delay broadening on signal output of a discrimination circuit to generate a quenching pulse signal; a turn-off gate control pulse signal is generated through an FPGA module, the turn-off gate control pulse signal and the turn-off gate control pulse signal are combined to form a first mixed signal, and the first mixed signal is amplified by a driving circuit and then added to a negative electrode high-voltage bias end of an avalanche diode; the de-noising broadening circuit is used for generating a pulse signal which is synchronous with a quenching pulse but is delayed in phase, the FPGA module is used for generating a de-noising gating signal which is synchronous with a turn-off gating pulse but is delayed in phase, and the two signals are combined and superposed on a screening reference signal of the screening circuit; and the FPGA module is used for controlling and discriminating that a denoising pulse superposed by the reference signal is higher than the amplitude of an overshoot signal coupled in the load signal. According to the invention, false signals coupled to the load by gating can be eliminated, the gating mode does not influence photon response signals, and the response speed is high.

A semiconductor device may include a plurality of single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) pixels. The semiconductor device may be a backside device that includes a sensor wafer stacked with an integrated passive component (IPC) wafer. The sensor wafer may include the SPAD pixels in an array across the sensor wafer. The IPC wafer may include active microcells that include quench resistors and dummy microcells that omit or disconnect the quench resistors. The sensor wafer may be bonded to the IPC wafer through hybrid bonding. The regions with active microcells may form active areas of the semiconductor device, while the regions with dummy microcells may form inactive areas. In this way, the active areas and inactive areas of the semiconductor device may be configurable by adjusting the active and dummy microcells of the IPC wafer.

The invention provides a quenching circuit of an avalanche diode and an imaging system.The quenching circuit of the avalanche diode comprises a quenching reset circuit, a time delay circuit, a comparison circuit and a detection control circuit, and the detection control circuit outputs a quenching signal in the output time period of a first level signal of a first clock signal; in the second level signal, namely the reset phase of the quenching circuit, if the avalanche diode is triggered by photons, the comparison circuit or the time delay circuit generates a corresponding first change signal or second change signal; when the detection control circuit detects the first change signal or the second change signal of the comparison circuit or the time-delay circuit, the detection control circuit can judge that the avalanche diode is triggered in the reset stage, at the moment, a quenching signal is output, the quenching reset circuit enters the quenching stage in advance, and the power consumption when the quenching circuit is triggered in the reset stage is reduced.

The invention discloses an avalanche diode and a detector, as one example, the avalanche diode includes a substrate; the first electrode has a first doping type, and the first electrode extends into the substrate from one surface of the substrate; the second electrode has a second doping type, the second electrode extends into the substrate from one surface of the substrate, and the second electrode and the first electrode are arranged at an interval; and the diversion structure is annularly arranged on the outer periphery of the first electrode, and the diversion structure extends into the substrate from the first surface. The avalanche diode of the technical scheme of the invention can improve the detection efficiency and is beneficial to production and preparation.

Disclosed are systems and methods that employ elastic fiber optic, time-of-flight sensors for long distance landslide monitoring with sub-mm precision. The time-of-flight (ToF) sensor is integrated in conjunction with a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD). By coupling both the emission source and the detector with a stretchable optical fiber, our inventive systems and methods continuously monitor the length of the stretchable optical fiber by measuring a traveling time of an optical pulse traversing the stretchable optical fiber. A significant, detectable change in the length of the stretchable optical fiber – indicative of ground movement or deformation, triggers an alarm, providing an early warning for potential landslides. As such, systems and methods according to aspects of the present disclosure provide a reliable, sensitive, precise, cost-effective, real-time solution for landslide detection and monitoring – a problem that has plagued the art.

The invention discloses a high-speed denoising method and device suitable for an airborne area array Geiger avalanche diode radar, and the method comprises the steps: enabling a radar image collection control module to achieve the data collection of the area array Geiger avalanche diode radar, and carrying out the segmentation of effective pixels and noise pixels of a collected 64 * 64 image; self-adaptive denoising is added by analyzing a radar equation and equipment parameters; automatically setting a signal threshold according to avalanche diode data distribution in a single frame; the signal proportion is increased by using matched filtering; signals are extracted and noise is removed by using a time and space correlation method. According to the invention, real-time de-noising processing is carried out on acquired radar data by combining the inherent characteristics of the area array Geiger avalanche diode radar, data distribution in a single frame, a time-space correlation method and a matched filtering algorithm, so that the problem of data submerging of the Geiger avalanche diode radar under an extremely low synthesis frame number is solved; the background noise interference in the image can be effectively reduced, and the pixel signal centroid can be quickly obtained.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an avalanche diode, a detection unit configured to detect an avalanche current generated by avalanche multiplication in the avalanche diode, a switch disposed between the avalanche diode and the detection unit, and a reset unit configured to reset a node between the switch and the detection unit. The reset unit resets the node during a period in which the switch is in an off state.

The invention provides a single photon avalanche diode and a preparation method thereof, the single photon avalanche diode comprises a first type center well region, a second type center well region and a protection ring, the first type center well region comprises a first type center well region body part and a first type center well region extension part, the first type central well region extension part is arranged on one side of the first type central well region body part in the first direction; the second-type central well region is arranged on one side of the first-type central well region body part in the first direction, and the first-type central well region extension part surrounds the second-type central well region; the protection ring surrounds the first type central well region extension part; and the first type central well region body part is in contact with the first type central well region extension part. In the single-photon avalanche diode provided by the invention, the first type central well region extension part can separate the protection ring from the second type central well region, so that the dark count rate of the single-photon avalanche diode is reduced, the noise is reduced, and the performance of the single-photon avalanche diode is improved.

The invention discloses a single-photon single-pixel imaging method based on average pulse number estimation intensity. The method comprises the following steps: recording each single-photon event; averaging the recorded pulse number of each single photon event to obtain an average pulse number of different photon numbers; performing intensity estimation by using the average pulse number of different photon numbers to obtain average pulse number estimation intensity, and performing information recovery on the target object to obtain an image of the target object; based on the image of the target object, the imaging quality of the target object is evaluated by calculating different image quality indexes. An image is restored by counting the number of pulses before each photon arrives and averaging. In an experiment, only one single-photon avalanche diode is used as a single-photon detector to obtain photon information, the high efficiency of the method under the low-light condition is proved, and compared with a traditional time correlation single-photon counting imaging method, the method can achieve information recovery of a target object through fewer photons.

A three-dimensional (3D) compressive sensing based eye movement tracking system using a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensor achieves high resolution depth measurements by using a low resolution SPAD sensor and actively coded illumination (e.g., two or three dimensional fringe patterns, random spots, random patterns, and / or overlay patterns) projected onto the surface of the eye. These patterns may be projected by a high speed illuminator, such as a digital micromirror device (DMD) or a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) projector, varying continuously at the same rate as the SPAD sensor acquisition rate. The processor may employ compressed sensing techniques to obtain high resolution images and depth information from the acquired images of the varying patterns.

To achieve active pixel quenching and minimize package size while ensuring connection reliability of an array of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) and high voltage switches formed on separate chips or packages.SOLUTION: In SPAD circuitry 100, a second die 104 may have a front side facing a third die 106, and a back side facing a first die 102. The third die has a plurality of SPADs. The second die includes a plurality of switches coupled to cathode terminals 154 of the plurality of SPADs in the third die. The first die includes digital readout logic coupled to the plurality of switches in the second die. The plurality of switches in the second die can be powered using a high voltage and referred to as analog high voltage switches. The digital readout logic in the first die is powered using a voltage that is lower than the high voltage being used to power the second die.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

The utility model provides a single-photon avalanche diode, a photoelectric detection device and electronic equipment. The single-photon avalanche diode comprises a substrate layer, a first doped region, a second doped region, an isolation region, a first electrode and a second electrode, the first doped region is located above the substrate layer, the second doped region is located above the first doped region, and the net doping type of the first doped region is opposite to that of the second doped region, so that a PN junction is formed between the first doped region and the second doped region, and depletion regions are formed on two sides of an interface of the PN junction; the isolation region is attached to the outer sides of the first doped region and the second doped region in the horizontal direction, and is constructed to at least cover the region between the upper interface of the second doped region and the lower interface of the first doped region in the height direction; the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to apply a reverse bias voltage to the PN junction to form an avalanche region in the depletion region. According to the single-photon avalanche diode, the size of a middle strong longitudinal electric field region cannot be affected when the overall size is reduced.

The present invention provides a novel near-infrared single-photon detection system. The system is characterized in that it is composed of a gated signal output circuit (1), a switch control signal circuit (2), a logic gate control circuit (3), a capacitor (4), a bias voltage generation circuit (5), a near-infrared single-photon avalanche photodiode (6) and a signal readout circuit (7), wherein the signal readout circuit is composed of an amplifier (71) and a resistor (72). The present invention can be used to solve the signal loss problem generated when the near-infrared single-photon avalanche diode collects light signals in a gated quenching mode; and can be widely used in the field of extremely weak light detection such as optical time domain reflectometry, laser radar detection and medical imaging.

An SPAD with a mesa structure has an etch stop layer that allows a first high-precision etch process that forms substrate contact plugs around the mesa to be combined with a second high-precision etch process that forms a metal grid. The etch stop layer is provided with a first elevation adjacent the substrate contact plugs and a second elevation adjacent the metal grid. The second elevation is greater than the first elevation. In a process, holes for the substrate contact plugs and trenches for the metal grid are etched down to the etch stop layer. After a break-through etch, a third etch process deepens the holes and the trenches to their final depths. The metal grid may land on a second etch stop layer that is absent from an area around the substrate contact plugs. This structure and process provide lower cost SPADs with mesa structures.

Single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) and image sensing devices are disclosed. In an embodiment, a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) includes: an impurity junction region configured to include a plurality of depletion regions, wherein, each depletion region is an junction formed between a first doped region doped with impurities of a first conductivity type and a second doped region doped with impurities of a second conductivity type; an output node formed above the impurity junction region and in contact with one surface of a substrate; a guard-ring region formed to surround the impurity junction region; and a biasing node spaced apart from the guard-ring region and disposed at one side of the guard-ring region.

A photoelectric conversion apparatus includes an avalanche diode disposed in a semiconductor layer having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface. The avalanche diode includes a first semiconductor region of first conductivity type disposed at a first depth and a second semiconductor region of second conductivity type disposed at a second depth deeper than the first depth with respect to the second surface. The photoelectric conversion apparatus further includes a first wiring portion electrically connected to the first semiconductor region; and a second wiring portion electrically connected to the second semiconductor region, An oxide film and a protective film stacked on the oxide film are disposed on the second surface of the semiconductor layer. There is a point at which dsio>(εsio / εprot)×dprot / 2 is satisfied, where dsio is a thickness of the oxide film, dprot is a thickness of the protective film, εsio is a relative permittivity of the oxide film, and εprot is a relative permittivity of the protective film. In a plan view from the second surface, the second wiring portion overlaps with at least a part of the second semiconductor region and does not overlap with the first semiconductor region.

The application relates to an avalanche diode single-photon detector and a preparation method thereof, in particular to a quantum dot-vertical linear avalanche diode single-photon detector and a preparation method thereof, and solves the problems of low detection efficiency of the existing single-photon detector and high preparation difficulty, high cost and limited effect of the existing method. + The detector comprises a detector N + substrate, a back electrode grown on the lower surface thereof, a plurality of quantum dot-vertical linear units arranged at intervals on the upper surface thereof, a passivation layer and a front electrode; the quantum dot-vertical linear unit comprises a semiconductor vertical linear structure, a porous nanomaterial layer and a quantum dot material layer; the semiconductor vertical linear structure is grown on the upper surface of the detector N + substrate; the porous nanomaterial layer covers the semiconductor vertical linear structure; the quantum dot material layer covers the porous nanomaterial layer; the passivation layer is filled between the quantum dot-vertical linear units; and the front electrode is grown on the part of the quantum dot-vertical linear unit extending out of the passivation layer.

The invention relates to a lighting circuit having a light sensor configured to measure a delay of reception of light that is being modulated based on a binary code after a reflection, said binary code being repeated for a predetermined time period T. The light sensor comprises: - a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) circuit (320) comprising a SPAD polarized by a voltage modulated by the code delayed of time k*ΔT, - an integrator (330) connected to the SPAD circuit (320) for providing an integration value of the conduction time of a SPAD (321) for each time the code is completely received.

A time of flight range detection device includes a laser configured to transmit an optical pulse into an image scene, a return single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array, a reference SPAD array, a range detection circuit coupled to the return SPAD array and the reference SPAD array, and a laser driver circuit. The range detection circuit in operation determines a distance to an object based on signals from the return SPAD array and the reference SPAD array. The laser driver circuit in operation varies an output power level of the laser in response to the determined distance to the object.

To provide a technique of photon detection efficiency (PDE) modulation with multi-junction single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) pixels.SOLUTION: A sensing device includes an array of sensing elements and a bias control circuit. Each sensing element of the array of sensing elements includes (i) a photosensitive material, which is configured to generate photoelectrons in response to incident optical radiation, and (ii) a plurality of avalanche diodes, which are disposed at different, respective locations within the sensing element in electrical communication with the photosensitive material and are configured, when reverse-biased, to generate electrical avalanches in response to the generated photoelectrons. The bias control circuit is configured to selectively set respective reverse-bias voltage levels of the avalanche diodes within each sensing element to different, respective values.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1