Single Photon Counting LIDAR Sensor

Sensors for spaceborne aerosol, cloud, and ocean (ACO) lidar must possess very wide dynamic range to cover the weakest stratospheric returns from the Rayleigh region and the strongest atmospheric targets, such as bright water clouds and strong reflections from the ocean surface. Currently this is not possible using a single sensor. To address NASArsquo;s need for next-generation spaceborne lidar systems for ACO profiling, Voxtel proposed to develop a high-dynamic-range photon-counting (HiP) sensor. The 65,536 pixel element (256 x 256-format) HiP sensor integrates Voxtelrsquo;s highly sensitive (400 ndash; 1000-nm with ge; 50% photon detection probability, PDP, at 532 nm), low-noise (le; 10 Hz dark count rate per pixel), silicon single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detector technology, which is integrated with novel in-pixel circuits to achieve a dynamic range of 100 million counts per second per pixel and the fast transient response required for both atmosphere and ocean profiling. The HiP sensor is manufactured using a commercial, high-volume, military/automotive-grade, complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process, which makes it reliable, with high yields, and low cost.