The Swiss Innovation Council “Innosuisse” has approved our funding application entitled “MoCA”. This preliminary study will be performed with HE-Arc to demonstrate the feasibility of an effective photon detection at short-wave
infrared (SWIR) wavelengths for smartphones and consumer (AR/VR) applications. The device set-up basically comprises a germanium-tin (GeSn) single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array as receiver and an indium-phosphide (InP) based vertical-cavity-surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array as transmitter – operating in pulse mode. The targeted system is a SWIR semiconductor module that can be used for 3D detection or facial recognition. Under the constraint of the eye safety standards, the problem to be solved is to cover a greater ranging distance than all
current devices – operating at 940nm – while the laser power has to remain as low as possible to avoid thermal stresses inside the device.
