Towards smarter ranging pixels with high dynamic range: sensitivity-tuning of current assisted photonic demodulators.
 
Towards smarter ranging pixels with high dynamic range: sensitivity-tuning of current assisted photonic demodulators. 
 
Ward van der Tempel, Daniël Van Nieuwenhove, Riemer Grootjans, Maarten Kuijk
 
Abstract 

The peculiarities of Time-of-Flight ranging with CMOS sensors - with respect to conventional CMOS imaging - allow new ways to enhance dynamic range of these CMOS ranging sensors. This paper discusses how a current-assisted photonic demodulator can be modified to provide enhanced dynamic range. An extra node provides tunable sensitivity to the detector without interfering with the photonic demodulation properties of the deivce. It can be used to construct smart ranging pixels with extended dynamic range.