Wide‐area fast‐gated single‐photon detector with integrated TDC for near‐infrared spectroscopy applications
14:50 - 15:10
Enrico Conca, Vincenzo Sesta, Federica Villa, Mauro Buttafava, Simone Tisa, Alberto Dalla Mora, Davide Contini, Alessandro Torricelli, Antonio Pifferi, Laura Di Sieno, Paola Taroni, Franco Zappa and Alberto Tosi We present an integrated circuit designed for compact and low-cost TD-NIRS systems, combining a fast-gated single-photon detector array (based on SPADs) with 8.6 mm2 active area, a Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) with 72 ps resolution and integrated histogram builder, fabricated in a 0.35 µm CMOS technology. This fully-digital photodetector combines the fast-gating capability of SPAD detectors, previously only demonstrated for single pixels, with the large area typically found in detectors like Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs), earning the name of “fast-gated digital SiPM”. We use a novel frontend circuit to maximize fill factor and reduce power consumption.
