SPADλ is a linear single-photon detector array with 320×1 single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) pixels, featuring thermo-electric cooling for reduced noise. These SPADs offer a low dark count rate and wide detection spectrum. Equipped with microlenses, they achieve a peak photon detection efficiency of 45% at 520 nm. This system can count photons at 4 Gcps and provides time-tagging and time-gating for time-resolved detection. With 80 TDC channels, it achieves time-tagging precision averaging better than 130 ps full width half maximum (FWHM). Ideal for flow cytometry, fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM), and Raman spectroscopy applications.
The Piccolo gated sensor features a 32x32 SPAD array of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) operating in time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC). The chip enables event-driven readout and a maximum count rate of 220 Mcps. The sensor is based on the original Piccolo architecture, whereas the pixel was redesigned to accommodate a sub-nanosecond time gating circuitry. As a result, the pitch was increased by 3 μm to 31 μm with a slightly lower fill factor of 23.7%. The time-gating circuitry comprises active recharge to activate the gate and a fast switch to de-activate the SPAD. The sensor is equipped with 128 dynamically allocated, 50 ps time-to-digital converters (TDCs) at the bottom of the array. Four TDCs are shared among 32 SPADs in each column, where a mechanism of reallocation is used to optimize the use of TDCs and to minimize photon loss. Time gating can reduce both uncorrelated and correlated noise by reducing overall active time and by increasing relaxation time after detection, respectively. Upon acquisition of TCSPC data, the FPGA reorganizes it in histograms, which may be dynamically allocated and reduced in the number of bins to optimize memory use and data transfer from the FPGA to an external Mac/PC. The TDCs may also be calibrated to suppress differential and integral nonlinearities on-FPGA. Timestamps are stored in DDR3 and streamed out of the FPGA through PCIe with a data rate of 5.12 Gbps. Thanks to these techniques, the maximum count rate of the sensor was increased by about 3×. The time gating feature was implemented to extend dynamic range, and therefore depth, of near-infrared optical tomography (NIROT) and g(2) multi-depth time-domain diffuse correlation spectroscopy (TD-mDCS). Time gating is especially useful in NIROT and mDCS, as it helps suppress large numbers of early photons reflected back from the sample’s surface, e.g. the skull or skin. Thus, the Piccolo-gated architecture could show its suitability in these imaging modality.
Silicon-based single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) implemented in front-side illuminated arrays and imagers have often suffered from fill factor limitations. The corresponding reduced sensitivity can be sometimes traded off with longer acquisition times thanks to SPAD’s noiseless read-out. The use of SPADs can however be critically affected in many applications, especially when photon-starved, or when several photons need to be detected in coincidence. The fill factor loss can be recovered by employing microlens arrays, which are difficult to build with relatively large pitch (> 10 μm) and low native SPAD fill factor (as low as 10%). To address these challenges, we have developed several generations of refractive microlenses by photoresist reflow used to fabricate molds. These structures were used to imprint UV-curable hybrid polymer microlenses on SPAD arrays. Replications were successfully carried out on large SPAD arrays with very thin residual layers (~10 μm), as required for higher numerical aperture (NA > 0.25). Replications were also carried out for the first time in a multi-chip operation regime at the wafer reticle level. By optimizing the lens sag and residual layer thickness, concentration factors (CFs) within 15-20% of the theoretical maxima were obtained for the smaller arrays (32×32 and 512×1). The spectral response was flat above 400 nm. CF values up to 4.2 with good uniformity were measured on large 512×512 arrays with 16 μm pixel pitch and a native fill factor of 10.5%. This result was confirmed by simulations when using the actual measured lens shape. We thus demonstrated good spectral and spatial uniformity and high CF, while moving to higher NAs and larger sensor sizes with respect to previous work.
The LinoSPAD2 camera combines a 512×1 linear single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array with an FPGA-based photon-counting and time-stamping platform, to create a reconfigurable sensing system capable of detecting single photons. The read-out is fully parallel, where each SPAD is connected to a different FPGA input. The hardware can be reconfigured to achieve different functionalities, such as photon counters, time-to-digital converter (TDC) arrays and histogramming units. Time stamping is performed by an array of 64 TDCs, with 20 ps resolution (LSB), serving 256 channels by means of 4:1 sharing. At sensor level, the pixel pitch is 26.2 μm with a fill factor of 25.1%. The median dark count rate of each SPAD at room temperature is below 100 cps at 6V excess bias, the single-photon timing resolution (SPTR) of each channel is 50 ps FWHM, and the peak photon detection probability reaches ~50% at 510 nm at the same excess bias. The fill factor can be increased by 2.3× by means of microlenses, with good spatial uniformity and flat spectral response above 400 nm. At system level, the average instrument response function (IRF) is 135 ps FWHM. The LinoSPAD2 camera enables a wide range of time-of-flight and time-resolved applications, including 3D imaging, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), heralded spectroscopy, and compressive Raman imaging, to name a few. Thanks to its features, LinoSPAD2 is a novel generation of reconfigurable single-photon image sensors capable of adapting their read-out and processing to match application-specific requirements, and combining SPAD arrays with advanced, massively-parallel computational functionalities.
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