In several emerging fields of study such as encryption in optical communications, determination of the number of photons in an optical pulse is of great importance. Typically, such photon-number-resolving sensors require operation at very low temperature (e.g., 4 K for superconducting-based detectors) and are limited to low pixel count (e.g., hundreds). In this paper, a CMOS-based photon-counting image sensor is presented with photon-number-resolving capability that operates at room temperature with resolution of 1 megapixel. Termed a quanta image sensor, the device is implemented in a commercial stacked (3D) backside-illuminated CMOS image sensor process. Without the use of avalanche multiplication, the 1.1 μm pixel-pitch device achieves $0.21\mathrm{e}-\mathrm{rms}$ average read noise with average dark count rate per pixel less than $0.2\mathrm{e}-/\mathrm{s}$, and 1040 fps readout rate. This novel platform technology fits the needs of high-speed, high-resolution, and accurate photon-counting imaging for scientific, space, security, and low-light imaging as well as a broader range of other applications.

中文翻译：

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室温下光子数分辨百万像素图像传感器，无雪崩增益

在诸如光通信中的加密之类的一些新兴研究领域中，确定光脉冲中的光子数非常重要。通常，这种光子数解析传感器需要在非常低的温度下运行（例如，对于基于超导的检测器为4 K），并且被限制为低像素数（例如，数百个）。本文提出了一种基于CMOS的光子计数图像传感器，该传感器具有在室温下以1兆像素分辨率工作的光子数解析能力。该设备被称为量子图像传感器，以商用堆叠（3D）背照式CMOS图像传感器工艺实现。在不使用雪崩倍增的情况下，1.1μm像素间距的器件实现了$0.21\mathrm{Ë}-\mathrm{均方根}$ 平均读取噪声，每个像素的平均暗计数率小于 $0.2\mathrm{Ë}-/\mathrm{s}$，以及1040 fps的读出率。这项新颖的平台技术满足了高速，高分辨率和精确的光子计数成像的需求，可用于科学，空间，安全和微光成像以及其他广泛的应用。