Harvest Imaging Forum Agenda Published

Albert Theuwissen publishes a tentative agenda of this year's forum "3D Imaging with Time-of-Flight: Solid-State Devices, Circuits and Architectures" delivered by David Stoppa:

Introduction

• Applications for 3D image sensors
• Range sensing technologies: taxonomy, pros and cons
• Active range sensors (Triangulation, Interferometry and Time-of-Flight): operation principle and solid-state implementation
• Time-of-Flight measurement principle and implementations

Time-of-Flight System

• Building blocks
• Optical power budget and system design considerations
• Technical requirements for 3D Time-of-Flight image sensors
• History and evolution of 3D image sensors versus 2D

Detector Technologies: Photo-demodulators (PDM), Electronic Shutter (ES), SPADs and APDs

• Evolution of PDM-devices from CCD to CIS
• Description and analysis of State-of-the-art PDM implementations
• Description and analysis of SoA ES solutions
• From photodiode to SPAD through APDs
• SPAD operation principle and behavioural model
• SPAD front-end and processing electronics
• Description and analysis of SoA SPAD-based solutions
• Pros and cons of each detector technology and best application scenarios

3D Image sensors readout architectures and main processing blocks

• Sensor architectures, column amplifiers, ADCs, on-chip processing blocks
• Extra electronics needed by 3D Time-of-Flight with respect to 2D (TDCs, TACs, drivers)

Main noise sources in 3D imagers

• Noise analysis and case study for PDM, ES and SPAD sensors

3D Image sensors characterisation and Figures of Merit

• How to test a 3D Time-of-Flight imager
• Main Figures of Merit

Additional topics

• Best 3D sensor technology for your application
• System aspects and trade-offs
• Future perspective and roadmap

Wrap-up