Single-photon Time-of-Flight Image Sensors for Spacecraft Navigation and Landing in CMOS Technologies

David STOPPA, Fondazione Bruno Kessler

The impressive advancements in CMOS technologies over the last few decades have resulted in image sensors being a ubiquitous part of everyday life. However, there are still new challenges keeping research alive in the field of solid-state image sensors, with an increasing demand for imaging systems able to provide extra-information with respect to the standard digital cameras output. Among them there is the continuous progress of Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) fabricated using standard CMOS technologies, which allow adding more and more, processing features onto the same chip while the pixel dimensions are shrinking. SPAD-based sensors are capable of resolving the photons time-of-arrival on a sub-nanosecond time scale opening the way to the realisation of high spatial resolution long-distance three-dimensional imaging. In this contribution, recent developments carried out at FBK in the field of CMOS SPAD sensors for space applications will be presented and discussed.

 
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