SPAD-based photon detectors with multi-phase sampling TDCs
US11476372B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 12, 2021 |
| Grant date | Oct 18, 2022 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 12, 2041 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH10F39/18
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method of building a moving average histogram of photon times of arrival includes, for each time interval in first and second subsets of time intervals, latching a time reference corresponding to a time of receipt of an avalanche timing output signal of a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD), and advancing a count stored at a memory address corresponding to the latched time reference. The memory address corresponds to a range of time references. The method further includes reading and clearing a first set of counts after the first subset of time intervals; phase-shifting the sequence of time references with respect to a set of memory addresses after the first subset of time intervals; reading and clearing a second set of counts after the second subset of time intervals; and building the moving average histogram using at least the first and second sets of counts.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.