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M. Hauser, A. Dervic, A. Kuttner, H. Zimmermann, M. Hofbauer:
"Time of Flight Analog Correlator for Distance Measurement with SPADs";
Talk: MIPRO 2021, Opatija, Croatia; 09-27-2021 - 10-01-2021; in: "44^th International Convention on Information, Communication and Electronic Technology", (2021), 2035 - 2040.

An analog time of flight correlator designed in a 150 nm LFoundry CMOS process, capable of correlating photon pulses with an input clock for the use with single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) is presented. This
correlator will allow highly sensitive and high precision indirect time of flight (iTOF) distance measurement with modulation frequencies up to 1 GHz and a distance resolution of 3 mm and 1.3 mm for a total measurement time of only 4 µs and 40 µs, respectively. Additionally long integration times are possible, which guarantee operation with high background-to-signal ratios (BSR). The small size and low power consumption of less than 1 mW allow the use of many correlators on a single chip. Two correlators and a quenching circuit are integrated on a chip with a size of 1.5 x 1.3 mm². The size of a single correlator is 225 x 143 µm².

SPAD; correlator; indirect time of flight; distance measurement; CMOS; active quenching

http://dx.doi.org/10.23919/MIPRO52101.2021.9596858