"How do we measure this phase shift? At the silicon level, each pixel in the Microsoft ToF sensor is comprised of two detectors, or “wells”, that receive photons and turn them into electric charge. Each well can be opened or closed by the sensor control circuit. If we keep each well open for half of a modulation period – side A in sync with the emitter, and side B exactly out of sync – then the returning photons will be split between the two detectors, but at least one well is always ready to catch them. Based on the proportion of photons that accumulate in detector A vs. detector B, we can calculate the shift of the returned signal."
The first graphic is highly misleading, to say the least.
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