The ArrayRDM-0112A20-QFN is the first automotive qualified SiPM product in the market, that's ready to address growing demands for LiDAR applications across a number of industry sectors.
It is a monolithic 1×12 array of SiPM pixels based on the company's RDM process, which enables high sensitivity to near-infrared (NIR) light to achieve 18.5% photon detection efficiency (PDE)(1) at 905 nanometers (nm). The high internal gain of the SiPM allows sensitivity down to the single-photon level, a feature that in combination with the high PDE, enables the detection of the faintest return signals. This results in the ability to range to greater distances even with low reflective targets.
SiPM technology has gained momentum recently and has become the sensor of choice for broad-market depth sensing applications. SiPMs have the ability to deliver the highest signal-to-noise performance for long distance ranging in bright sunlight conditions.
Additional benefits including lower supply biases and lower sensitivity to temperature changes make it a suitable upgrade for systems that use legacy avalanche photodiodes (APDs). SiPMs are produced in a high-volume CMOS process, allowing for the lowest detector cost and therefore enabling broad-market LiDAR solutions.
Using laser light to measure the distance of an object has spanned the fields of automotive, consumer and industrial applications. In automotive, LiDAR can be employed to improve safety and driver assistance systems (ADAS) and is being used for fully autonomous driving use cases, such as robotic transportation, to safely navigate the environment in real time. Benefiting from the high PDE of ArrayRDM-0112A20-QFN, LiDAR systems supporting these functions have been proven to range over 300 meters in distance.
“The high-resolution depth data provided by LiDAR enables instantaneous and accurate object identification in challenging low light conditions. As the first automotive qualified SiPM, the ArrayRDM-0112A20-QFN will enable long range, cost-effective LiDAR solutions for the next level of safety and autonomy,” commented Wade Appelman, senior director, Automotive Sensing Division at ON Semiconductor. “We are continuously enhancing our sensor portfolio by offering diverse and complementary sensing modalities that pave the way to higher levels of ADAS and autonomous driving.”
