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High Repetition Rate Integrated Streak Camera in Standard CMOS Technology

Authors:
Jean Pierre Le Normand
Virginie Zint
Wilfried Uhring

Keywords: CMOS integrated circuits, image sensors, integrated optoelectronics, time domain measurements

Abstract:
The capabilities of an Integrated Streak Camera (ISC) prototype fabricated in an AMS 0.35 µm CMOS process to observe light pulses of few nanosecond FWHM (Full width at half maximum) with or without analog accumulation is presented. The sensor consists of a matrix of 64 * 64 pixels including an electronic shutter and an analog accumulation capability. The sensor can operate in single shot mode when the light pulse power is sufficient and in repetitive mode, i.e., it can measure a recurrent light pulse and accumulates the successive photo charges into an internal node, for low light detection. The repetitive mode improves the sensitivity and the signal to noise ratio of the system. The functionality of a streak camera is reproduced through a versatile integrated temporal sweep unit that generates a sampling period continuously adjustable from 125 ps to DC. The distributed architecture and the in-pixel embedded memory allows the sampling rate to exceed 400 GS/s. Results on the dynamic performance of the ISC are presented. The measurements showed a temporal resolution close to the nanosecond and a repetition rate of more than 50 MHz. A 6 ns FWHM light pulse spatially focused on a single pixel row has been successfully measured in single shot and in accumulation mode.

Pages: 322 to 327

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2011

Publication date: August 21, 2011

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4405

ISBN: 978-1-61208-144-1

Location: Nice/Saint Laurent du Var, France

Dates: from August 21, 2011 to August 27, 2011