Abstract: This tutorial will present the technologies behind single-photon avalanche-diode (SPAD)-based solid-state CMOS LiDAR sensors that have emerged to realize level-5 automotive vehicles and the metaverse AR/VR in mobile devices. It will begin with the fundamentals of direct and indirect time-of-flight (ToF) techniques, followed by structures and operating principles of three key building blocks: SPAD devices, time-to-digital converters (TDCs), and signal-processing units for histogram derivation. The tutorial will finally introduce the recent development of on-chip histogramming TDCs with some state-of the-art examples.

2023 ISSCC Tutorials