SPAD sensor processes photon events on-chip
Singular Photonics’ Litavis is a CMOS single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) image sensor with integrated digital photon processing on-chip and in-pixel. By processing photon events directly on-chip, it reduces the volume of raw data that must be transferred and processed externally. According to the company, Litavis enables scalable real-time imaging systems with lower latency and improved power efficiency.
The 3D-stacked, back-side-illuminated (BSI) sensor captures spatial and temporal information while extracting scene information such as depth and event characteristics. Its software-configurable architecture combines photon-counting imaging, programmable time gating, and photon timing within a scalable SPAD array. Litavis supports intensity, timing, and histogramming modes concurrently, allowing users to dynamically adjust sensor parameters in software without requiring a new hardware design.
Litavis provides continuous 256×256-pixel photon-counting imaging under low-light conditions and simultaneously generates time-stamped photon events across a 64×64-macropixel timing grid. It delivers 47% photon detection efficiency (PDE) at 785 nm, 37-ps timing resolution, and 4.3-ns dead time, with a 100% fill factor enabled by microlenses.
The SPAD-based sensor targets applications including machine vision, physical AI, robotics, depth sensing, and scientific imaging. A timeline for sensor availability was not provided at the time of this announcement.
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