4-to-1 Transimpedance combining amplifier-based static unitary detector for high-resolution of LADAR sensor

• Published in: Analog integrated circuits and signal processing 2018-03, Vol.94 (3), p.481-495
• Main Authors: Lee, Eun-Gyu, Lee, Jae-Eun, Song, Minhyup, Choi, Gyu Dong, Mheen, Bongki, Jung, Bang Chul, Kim, Choul-Young
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amplifiers; Bandwidths; Buffers; Circuits and Systems; CMOS; Electrical Engineering; Engineering; High resolution; Lidar; Power consumption; Protectors; Sensors; Signal,Image and Speech Processing
• ISSN: 0925-1030; 1573-1979
• DOI: 10.1007/s10470-018-1112-x

A fully integrated 4-to-1 transimpedance combining amplifier (TICA)-based static unitary detector (STUD) is developed for high-resolution of laser detection and ranging (LADAR) sensor. With a developed TICA, the STUD is able to have an effective large-area photodetector to enlarge the region of interest (ROI) without the bandwidth deterioration of a receiver for LADAR sensor. The 4-to-1 TICA is fabricated using 0.18-μm standard CMOS technology and it consists of four independent current buffers, a two-stage signal combiner, a balun, an output buffer, and four over-current protectors in one single integrated chip. The core of the TICA dissipates a power of about 7.8 mW. The total power consumption, including that of the balun and the output buffer, is 41 mW from a 1.8-V supply. The average input-referred noise current spectral density is 15.4 pA/√Hz with a bandwidth of 185 MHz and a transimpedance gain of 70 dBΩ. The developed TICA occupies an active area of approximately 107 μm × 102 μm and the die size, including the I/O pads, is 912 μm × 1000 μm. From the two-dimensional optical pulse scanning measurements and the three-dimensional (3-D) range measurements, it is verified that the designed TICA is suitable for the receiver front-end of the STUD-based LADAR sensor.