Friday 11 March 2011, 11:00h, at Nikhef in H331
Speaker: Eduardo Charbon (TU Delft)
Title: CMOS Single-Photon Sensors: from Quantum Detection to Biomedical Imaging
Abstract:
Why do we want to detect photons and in the smallest quantities? This is not an exotic, purely academic quest. Time-resolved single-photon detection has recently given way to time-resolved imaging with the emergence of deep-submicron CMOS implementations of SPADs or single-photon avalanche diodes. SPADs enable to see inside quantum phenomena; understanding how to sense and model macroscopic phenomena using the quantum paradigm has enabled breakthroughs in a number of disciplines from computer vision to telecommunications, but it is in bio-detection and medical imaging the an even greater potential exists.
Thanks to large, massively parallel CMOS SPAD arrays, the design of scalable single-photon imagers has become a reality. SPAD pixels exhibit high sensitivity and dynamic range, low jitter and high stability. Moreover, due to the digital nature of SPADs, imaging architectures may be significantly simplified with the elimination of traditional components such as amplifiers, sample&holds, and analog-to-digital converters, as well as complex readout schemes and 1/f or FPN suppression techniques. Time-of-arrival detection can now be implemented on chip or even on-pixel while reconfigurable time-to-digital converters (TDCs) can also be used off-chip to maximize flexibility and to exploit the torrid pace of growth in FPGA technology.
In this talk I discuss SPAD based sensors and the architectural challenges posed by the quantum paradigm in CMOS integrated circuits. I introduce basic solid-state physics underlying SPADs and I discuss several modeling issues. I present recent developments and future research directions, focusing on bioimaging. I also outline ideas in emerging fields for the characterization of next generation sensors.
link naar colloquia pagina