Full Paper

Int. J. on Recent Trends in Engineering & Technology, Vol. 05, No. 02, Mar 2011

Monolithic All nMOS Front End for Chlorophyll Fluorescence SPAD Sensor
Hansraj Guhilot1, Rajanish.K.Kamat2
1

Dept. of E & C , K.L.E. Societys College of Engineering & Technology, Udyambag,Belgaum-590008,INDIA hansraj.g@gmail.com 2 Dept. of Electronics, Shivaji University Kolhapur-416004, INDIA raj_kamat@yahoo.com gives the introduction of the paper. Part II explains delayed chlorophyll fluorescence detection principle .Part III describes the circuit in detail and Part IV presents results and discussion. II DELAYED CHLOROPHYLL FLUORESCENCE DETECTION PRINCIPLE When light is absorbed by biocells it is utilized in three ways. One, it excites the molecules, creates ions and uses the photon energy for chemical transformation. Secondly, it dissipiates extra energy absorbed as heat. Remaining energy absorbed in excited state is re-rediated as delayed fluorescence with a shift in wavelength known as stokes shift(fig.1.a and b.). If the rate at which the shifted wavelength decays is measured , the inference about the cells neighborhood, pH, temperature and energy conversion can be drawn[7].

Abstract Development of monolithic all nMOS Automatic Quenching and Reset Circuit for chlorophyll fluorescence SPAD sensor is reported using Microwind 3.1 and LT Spice version IV for 120nm technology. An efficient bio-signal acquisition with single photon counting facility and fast quenching and reset is proposed circuit with a fast time to voltage converter has significant potential to study chlorophyll bioluminescence.

I. INTRODUCTION Munir El-Desouki et.al. reviews various CMOS based high speed imagers in ref [6]. This review uses both nMOS and pMOS transistors for implementation of these imagers. If sensor and reading electronics occupies the same silicon space the implementations discussed therein have reduced efficiency as there is a competition in collecting photons by all the n-wells exposed to weak radiation. appa et.al. have developed Active quenching circuits[2]. Also Donal Cronin and Moloney[3] have described monolithic integrated photon counter. But all of the above designs use CMOS. Existence of a correlation between delayed chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthesis is used for real time monitoring by Lingrui zhang et.al as described in ref.[5], however they do not use monolithic IC for the purpose of detection and processing. Guoet.al. have described all nMOS implementation for pixel amplification. This literature do not refer to AQRC as the photodiode is used in linear mode. Motivation for this work is to have a Monolithic implementation of photodiodes and the processing circuitry where the constraints due to competition in charge collection between n wells is minimized.. The conversion efficiency can only be improved by avoiding new n wells. Along with the principle a detailed design is presented in 120nm technology. Analog simulations are done using LT Spice version IV and Layout is done using Microwind 3.1. This puts a restriction on choice of MOSFETs for signal processing. Hence to detect very low energy photons and to achieve better S/N ratio the Active Pixel readout circuits motivated us to develop the circuit using nMOS only. Usage of freely/easily available VLSI tools was another motivation to implement the AQRC reported in this communication. Our work improves the efficiency of such implementations and also suggests a universal circuit for Avalanche Photodiode(APD) independent of whether it is used in linear mode or Geiger mode. For operation in linear mode AQRC is disabled by row selection transistor. This sensor design differs from all previous designs used in Active Pixel Sensors for chlorophyll measurements. The details of the paper are as follows. Part I
2011 ACEEE

Fig. 1. (a) Fluorescence spectral response showing the excitation pulse and the emission pulse. (b) Time-resolved and fluorescence lifetime measurements

Currently accepted model of photosynthesis consists of two photosystems,PS1 and PS2. As shown in fig.2.,PS2 oxidizes water separating oxygen and protons and reduces the primary and secondary quinine acceptors Qa and Qb. PS1 transfers an electron of the plastoquinone(PQ) pool to the final electron acceptor CO2. The reaction centre of PS2(RC) consists of a special chlorophyll molecule P680 which in an excited state is a primary electron donor for quinine acceptor Qa. The energy of light quantum absorbed in PS2 can be transformed into the energy of separated charges P680+Qawhich is used in further photosynthetic reactions or lost by emitting fluorescence quantum or scattering in heat.

Fig. 2. Model of Photosynthesis Centre II(PS2) showing delayed fluorescence h df

30

DOI: 01.IJRTET.05.02.61

Full Paper
Int. J. on Recent Trends in Engineering & Technology, Vol. 05, No. 02, Mar 2011 the original S11 measurements wirebond inductance and bondpad capacitance are not included as simulation is intended for monolithic implementation. As can be seen from fig.5(b) SPAD model is connected with250 Kilo-Ohm ballast resistor and is biased at 34 volts (at about 10%of breakdown voltage quantum

Fig. 3. model of photosynthesis reactions.

Out of reactions initiated by light as indicated in fig.3, Reaction-1 is triggered by a light pulse of 1to 5 pS. Reaction2 is initiated by a light pulse of 100 to 200pS and Reaction-3 is enhanced by a light pulse of 200 to 1000mS. Thus using appropriate algorithm for LED light source and detecting the delayed chlorophyll fluorescence by SPAD with AQRC every 10 to 20pS the energy transfer in plants can be studied non invasively [6]. A general setup for measuring chlorophyll fluorescence is shown in fig.4. The pulses of various durations, as explained in [r6] are generated by PWM driver,driving array of LEDs at shorter wavelengths. This light falls on leaf through a glass ,creates evanescent waves which couples to SPAD. A start signal derived from LED driver starts a TDC and AQRC stops TDC. Output of TDC drives MCA. .Histogram can be constructed from MCA data.

Fig. 6. Response of passive quenching with long reset tail.

Single photon detection is simulated using a pulse generator voltage source, a voltage controlled resistor switch with Ron 1Ohm,Roff 100MOhm.Bulk contact resistance of the avalanche photodiode Rs is represented by 17.85Ohm and junction capacitance Cj is given by 4.4pF. On detection of photon avalanche occurs causing a voltage drop across ballast resistor and thus bringing the voltage across SPAD lower than breakdown value. A very short duration photon current gives rise to reduced self heating, after pulsing and less cross talk[2]. B. All nMOS Active Quench and Reset Circuit Design For monolithic implementation of the chip the circuits described in references [2,3,6] are less suitable for weak radiation detection and improved S/N ratio.

Fig. 4. General Setup for measurement of DCF in photosynthesis.

III MONOLITHIC ALL NMOS AQRC

Fig.7 CMOS photodiode made entirely by a standard production 0.35m. CMOS process as reported by Woodward et al

Fig.5(a) Model of SPAD

Fig.5(b) passive quenching circuit

A. SPAD Modelling SPAD model for 250 micrometer diameter single photon avalanche diode derived from S11 measurements[2] is used for present simulation. The model is shown in fig.5(a). From
2011 ACEEE

As can be seen from fig.7 the photodiode produced by standard CMOS process use n well for collection of photons. For monolithic implementation if AQRC is implemented using nMOS only the circuit will have better efficiency. Here we give all nMOS implementation for AQRC and pixel amplification. All nMOS AQRC is implemented using 6 nMOS transistors M1 to M6. As shown in fig.8. Transistors M5 is biased in CS mode with nMOS load of M7 .M6 is used in diode connected mode.M6 provides self adjusting bias to the load M7. M1 is used to quench the SPAD. M4 gives the row selection ability which can be used in SPAD arrays. All the above mentioned transistors function as AQRC.

31

DOI: 01.IJRTET.05.02.61

Full Paper
Int. J. on Recent Trends in Engineering & Technology, Vol. 05, No. 02, Mar 2011 Response of passive quenching circuit of fig.5 is shown in fig.6. It is clear from the response curve after avalanche occurs the voltage immediately drops to ground. But as recharging takes place through the ballast resistor it takes about 5 microseconds to charge to Vdd. For bioluminescence detection this time constant is too large. As shown in fig.10. proposed new circuit not only responds very fast but also it has control feature like row selection feature of SPAD. Fast row selection is feasible along with almost pico second response of the SPAD. This is further amplified in fig.12

Fig..8 AQRC implementation in all nMOS

Upon row selection M4 turns on connecting M1 to the cathode of the SPAD. This discharges the SPAD from Vbr the break down voltage. On arrival of photons the avalanche is initiated suddenly dropping the voltage across SPAD. At this moment M5 amplifies the signal with phase shift. With avalanche Cgs of M2 and Cgs of M1 acts as capacitive potential divider ,driving momentarily M1 on. Thus M1 and M4 pulls SPAD below break over voltage ,reducing the current through SPAD below hold-on. This completes the quenching process The reset current is provided by M3. All MOSFETs are simulated using BSIM4 low leakage model .With the present setup ,circuit is simulated using LT Spice version IV .

Fig.11. Output response of proposed AQRC with row selection control.

Thus present circuit can be used in any instrumentation requiring fast photo response. In the study of photosynthesis the time constants of interest are in the range of picoseconds to microseconds. Proposed circuit with a fast time to voltage converter can be used to study chlorophyll bioluminescence.

Fig. 9. A universal APD circuit for linear and Geiger mode .

As illustrated in figure.9 ,The APD Amplifier and SPAD with appropriate biasing voltage below Gieger mode can be used for analog detection of the fluorescence by making use of correlated double integration[7] AQRC circuit given in fig. 8 is further optimized by having diode connected load for M6. M3 is diode connected through switch M4 on detection of photon, providing a current driven reset. IV RESULTS AND CONCLUSION For proper operation of the AQRC different sizes of the MOSFETs are indicated in the table below

Fig.12. output response of all nMOS AQRC

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Authors wish to acknowledge Department of Electronics, Shivaji university, Kolhapur, India and KLE Societys College of Engineering and Technology, Belgaum, India, for the support and assistance.

2011 ACEEE

32

DOI: 01.IJRTET.05.02.61

Full Paper
Int. J. on Recent Trends in Engineering & Technology, Vol. 05, No. 02, Mar 2011 REFERENCES
[1] F.Zappa, M. Ghioni, S. Cova et.al.An integrated Active Quenching Circuit for Single Instrumentation and Measurement, vol.49.no.6,pp1167-1175, December 2000. [2] F. Zappa et.al.,Monolithic Active Quenching and Active reset Circuit for Single Photon Avalanche detectors, IEEE Journal of Solid state Circuits, vol.38,no.7,pp.1298-1301,july 2003. [3] D.Cronin, A.M. Moloney and A.P.Morrison; Simulated Monolithically Integrated Single Photon Counter; IEEE High Frequency Postgraduate Student Colloquium 2004, sept. 2004, pages 9-14. [4] A.M.Moloney, a CMOS Monolithically Integrated Photoreceiver Incorporating an Avalanche Photodiode, Ph.D. thesis, University College Cork, Electrical Engineering Department, April 2003. [5] Lingrui Zhang, Da Xing and Junsheng Wang, A Non-invasive and Real-time Monitoring of the Regulation of Photosynthetic Metabolism Biosensor Based on Measurement of Delayed Fluorescence in Vivo Sensors 2007, 7, 52-66 [6] Munir El-Desouki , M. Jamal Deen , Qiyin Fang, Louis Liu , Frances Tse andDavid Armstrong ; CMOS Image Sensors for High Speed Applications;Sensors 2009, 9, 430-444. [7] Hansraj Guhilot, Dr.R.K.Kamat ; A CMOS VLSI implementation of Mean Life Time(MLT) Detector for Bioluminescence Sensor; IEEE ,Computer Society Proceedings of ITC, ISBN:978-0-7695-3975-1(2010) [8] US2010/0068750A1,United States Patent by Pogosjan et.al.; Pub.date; Mar.18,2010. Prof. Hansraj Guhilot was born in Haraji, Rajasthan, India in 1958. He received B.E. in Electronics from University Visveswaraiah College of Engineering, Bangalore and M. Tech in Industrial Electronics from Karnataka Regional Engineering College, Surathkal in 1981 and 1985 respectively in first class with distinction. Presently he is Professor and Head in the Department of Electronics and Communication in K.L.E. Societys College of Engineering & Technology, Udyambag,Belgaum, He has to his credit 26 years of rich professional experience that includes two years consultancy for a US based company. He holds 9 international and 1 Indian patents. His areas of interests are Smart Sensors, Agro-Electronics, Biomedical and Mixed Mode VLSI Design. He is as an expert in Power Electronics especially his patented solution on a power processor for metal halide lamps and High Frequency Electronic Ballast for lighting has been major breakthroughs in the industry. He has published 27 research papers and was felicitated by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, for owning international patents. He is also a coauthor in the forthcoming book: Harnessing VLSI System Design with EDA Tools (Springer, U.K.) Prof. Guhilot is a fellow of Institute of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers and Indian Society for Lighting Engineers and member IEEE and Indian Society for Technical Education. He has been listed in Indo American Whos Who and Asian American Whos Who Dr. Rajanish K. Kamat was born in India in 1971. He received B.Sc. in Electronics, M. Sc. in Electronics both in distinction in 1991 and 1993 respectively. Further he completed M.Phil in Electronics in 1994 and qualified the State Eligibility Test (in 1995), which is mandatory for faculty positions in India. He pursued his Ph.D. in Electronics specialized in Smart Temperature Sensors at Goa University and completed the same in 2003. He was awarded merit scholarship during the Masters programme. Dr. Kamat is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electronics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, India. Prior to joining Shivaji University, he was working for Goa University and on short term deputation under various faculty improvement programmes to Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and IIT Kanpur. He has successfully guided three students for Ph.D. in the area of VLSI Design. His research interests include Smart Sensors, Embedded Systems, VLSI Design and Information and Communication Technology. He is recipient of the Young Scientist Fellowship under the fast track scheme of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and extensively worked on Open Source Soft IP cores. One of his research papers won 4th place in the international paper contest organized by American Society for Information Science and Technology [ASIST, USA] for the year 2008. He has published over 35 research papers, presented over 60 papers in conferences and authored three books: Unleash the System On Chip using FPGAs and Handel C (U.K., Springer, 2009), Practical Aspects of Embedded System Design using Microcontrollers C (U.K., Springer, 2008), Exploring C for Microcontrollers: A Hands on approach (U.K., Springer, 2007). Dr. Kamat is a Member of IEEE and also a life member of Society of Advancement of Computing. He has been listed in the Marquis Whos Who in the World, USA.

2011 ACEEE

33

DOI: 01.IJRTET.05.02.61