CAPD iToF Sensors Overview

Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Melexis publish a MDPI paper "An Overview of CMOS Photodetectors Utilizing Current-Assistance for Swift and Efficient Photo-Carrier Detection" by Gobinath Jegannathan, Volodymyr Seliuchenko, Thomas Van den Dries, Thomas Lapauw, Sven Boulanger, Hans Ingelberts, and Maarten Kuijk. This is a type of iToF sensor offered by Sony, TI, and Melexis.

"This review paper presents an assortment of research on a family of photodetectors which use the same base mechanism, current assistance, for the operation. Current assistance is used to create a drift field in the semiconductor, more specifically silicon, in order to improve the bandwidth and the quantum efficiency. Based on the detector and application, the drift field can be static or modulated. Applications include 3D imaging (both direct and indirect time-of-flight), optical receivers and fluorescence lifetime imaging. This work discusses the current-assistance principle, the various photodetectors using this principle and a comparison is made with other state-of-the-art photodetectors used for the same application."