High fill-factor 60 × 1 SPAD array with 60 sub-nanosecond integrated TDCs

This paper presents a high-fill factor 60×1 linear array of Single-Photon Avalanche-Diodes (SPADs) and 60 integrated Time-to-Digital Converters (TDCs). The 100 μm diameter SPAD has high photon detection efficiency (50% at 420 nm), very low dark count rate (2.5 kcps at room temperature) and negligible crosstalk (about 0.1% between adjacent pixels). The TDC resolution is 250 ps and its single-shot precision of 200 ps rms is limited just by the quantization noise. Very good linearity (DNL = 5% LSB rms, INL = 30% LSB rms) is achieved thanks to the sliding scale technique. The overall fillfactor of the array is 52%. This chip is suitable for many advanced spectroscopic applications, since it provides 60 independent single-photon detectors and the corresponding counting and timing electronics within just one integrated circuit. Index Terms — Single-Photon Avalanche-Diode (SPAD); CMOS imagers; Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC); TimeCorrelated Single-Photon Counting (TCSPC); Time-of-Flight (TOF) measurements; Spectroscopy.

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