A 0.13 µm CMOS laser radar receiver with leading edge detection and time domain error compensation

This paper presents a receiver channel for a pulsed time-of-flight laser rangefinder with dual threshold leading edge timing discrimination. The timing error dependent on amplitude variations is corrected by measuring the slew rate of the arrival optical pulse. In this way the correction can be continued after the pulse is clipped so that the residual error can be minimized. The measured bandwidth, transimpedance and input rms noise current of the receiver channel are 300 MHz, 23 k Ω and 95 nA, respectively. The timing detection accuracy of the receiver channel is under ±30 ps which is ±4.5 mm in distance within a dynamic range of 1:10000.