Light-In-Flight Imaging by a Silicon Image Sensor: Toward the Theoretical Highest Frame Rate

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 19; no. 10; p. 2247
• Main Authors: Etoh, Takeharu Goji, Okinaka, Tomoo, Takano, Yasuhide, Takehara, Kohsei, Nakano, Hitoshi, Shimonomura, Kazuhiro, Ando, Taeko, Ngo, Nguyen, Kamakura, Yoshinari, Dao, Vu Truon Son, Nguyen, Anh Quang, Charbon, Edoardo, Zhang, Chao, De Moor, Piet, Goetschalckx, Paul, Haspeslagh, Luc
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 15-05-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Cameras; CMOS; Engineering; Light; light-in-flight; Monte Carlo simulation; Positron emission; Review; Sensors; Silicon wafers; Streak cameras; Temporal resolution; theoretical temporal resolution limit; Tomography; ultra-high-speed image sensor; United States > US; Vietnam; Japan; light-in-flight; ultra-high-speed image sensor; theoretical temporal resolution limit
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s19102247

Light in flight was captured by a single shot of a newly developed backside-illuminated multi-collection-gate image sensor at a frame interval of 10 ns without high-speed gating devices such as a streak camera or post data processes. This paper reports the achievement and further evolution of the image sensor toward the theoretical temporal resolution limit of 11.1 ps derived by the authors. The theoretical analysis revealed the conditions to minimize the temporal resolution. Simulations show that the image sensor designed following the specified conditions and fabricated by existing technology will achieve a frame interval of 50 ps. The sensor, 200 times faster than our latest sensor will innovate advanced analytical apparatuses using time-of-flight or lifetime measurements, such as imaging TOF-MS, FLIM, pulse neutron tomography, PET, LIDAR, and more, beyond these known applications.