Bruschini C, Homulle H, Antolovic IM, Burri S, Charbon E. Single-photon avalanche diode imagers in biophotonics: review and outlook.
LIGHT, SCIENCE & APPLICATIONS 2019;
8:87. [PMID:
31645931 PMCID:
PMC6804596 DOI:
10.1038/s41377-019-0191-5]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 126] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2018] [Revised: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 08/07/2019] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays are solid-state detectors that offer imaging capabilities at the level of individual photons, with unparalleled photon counting and time-resolved performance. This fascinating technology has progressed at a very fast pace in the past 15 years, since its inception in standard CMOS technology in 2003. A host of architectures have been investigated, ranging from simpler implementations, based solely on off-chip data processing, to progressively "smarter" sensors including on-chip, or even pixel level, time-stamping and processing capabilities. As the technology has matured, a range of biophotonics applications have been explored, including (endoscopic) FLIM, (multibeam multiphoton) FLIM-FRET, SPIM-FCS, super-resolution microscopy, time-resolved Raman spectroscopy, NIROT and PET. We will review some representative sensors and their corresponding applications, including the most relevant challenges faced by chip designers and end-users. Finally, we will provide an outlook on the future of this fascinating technology.
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