Single Photon Avalanche Diodes in Standard CMOS Processes

In the last few decades, Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) have emerged as a paradigm changing optical detector. This has been aided by significant progress in the development of SPADs in solid-state technologies, especially in CMOS processes. As a result of their high gain and sensitivity, fast response, digital-like outputs, integration with readout circuits, and ruggedness, they are extremely attractive for a wide range of applications such as automotive (LiDAR), biomedical (FLIM), high-energy physics, HDR imaging, and even quantum computing. This talk will introduce the operating principles of SPADs, realization of different types of SPADs in conventional CMOS processes and their associated performance metrics, different readout circuits, and SPAD-based sensors. Experimentally verified prototypes of CMOS SPADs and SPAD-based sensing systems for a variety of applications will be used to illustrate the advantages and possibilities of these detectors.
Speaker(s): , Dr. Shaan Sengupta
Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/367128