An Active Demodulation Pixel using a Current Assisted Photonic Demodulator Implemented in 0.6μm Standard CMOS

With the ever increasing automation of industrial processes, and the growing need for intelligent systems in, for example, auto-motive and safety/security applications, the demand for adequate artificial three-dimensional (3D) vision increases. It is still the weakest link between intelligent systems in general and the real world. Systems based on the Time-of-Flight (TOF) principle provide an elegant solution to these needs. The key structure to enable wide scale use of TOF ranging systems is a photonic demodulator with high responsivity and high demodulation bandwidth. This paper intends to highlight one of the most promising Standard CMOS photonic demodulator architecture