Towards infrared depth sensors based on amorphous semiconductors integrable on CMOS

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Authors: Maurice Müller, Matthias David Weber, Lukas Giehl, Merlin Schmidt, Christoph Jung, Rainer Bornemann, Benjamin Butz, P. Haring Bolívar, Andreas Bablich
Cited by: 2
References: 34

Abstract

Current optical depth sensing technologies suffer from combining measurement performance with system simplicity and scalable integration at high pixel densities. The intrinsic photomixing detector (IPD) can overcome these issues and enables high precision time-of-flight depth sensing at visible and near-infrared wavelengths based on an electrical referenced nonlinear mixing process in amorphous semiconductors. First depth sensor prototypes demonstrate mixing efficiencies of up to 47%, a mean depth resolution of 5 mm at distances from 0 m to 2 m at 457 nm, and near-infrared detection capabilities down to 450 µW/cm 2 at 785 nm. The IPD paves the way towards high-performance depth sensing at a simple, scalable, and CMOS-compatible integration platform with pixel fill factors up to 100%.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies Thin-Film Transistor Technologies CCD and CMOS Imaging Sensors

Publication details

Journal / source
Optics Express
Publisher
Optica Publishing Group
Volume
34
Issue
3
Pages
5042–5042
Publication date
28 January 2026
Language
EN