Integrated device for temporal binning of received photons

A system, comprising:

• an integrated circuit, comprising:
• a photodetection region configured to receive incident photons, the photodetection region being configured to produce a plurality of charge carriers in response to the incident photons;
• at least one charge carrier storage region;
• and
• a charge carrier segregation structure comprising:
• a charge carrier travel region comprising a semiconductor material;
• and
• a plurality of electrodes;
• and
• a control circuit configured to capture a charge carrier of the plurality of charge carriers, produced in the photodetection region, by:
• producing a first potential barrier at a first location within the integrated circuit by changing a voltage of a first electrode of the plurality of electrodes at a first time;
• and
• producing a second potential barrier at a second location within the integrated circuit by changing a voltage of a second electrode of the plurality of electrodes at a second time after the first time, such that the charge carrier is captured between the first potential barrier and the second potential barrier as a result of a time at which the charge carrier arrived at the charge carrier travel region, which in turn depends upon a time at which the charge carrier was produced in response to a photon of the incident photons in the photodetection region,
• wherein capturing the charge carrier between the first potential barrier and the second potential barrier selectively directs the charge carrier into the at least one charge carrier storage region.

An integrated circuit, comprising:

• a photodetection region configured to receive incident photons, the photodetection region being configured to produce a plurality of charge carriers in response to the incident photons;
• at least one charge carrier storage region;
• and
• a charge carrier segregation structure comprising:
• a charge carrier travel region comprising a semiconductor material;
• and
• a plurality of electrodes,
• wherein the charge carrier segregation structure is controllable to capture, in the at least one charge carrier storage region, a charge carrier of the plurality of charge carriers produced in the photodetection region by:
• in response to a voltage of a first electrode of the plurality of electrodes changing, producing a first potential barrier at a first location within the integrated circuit;
• in response to a voltage of a second electrode of the plurality of electrodes changing, producing a second potential barrier at a second location within the integrated circuit, such that the charge carrier is captured between the first potential barrier and the second potential barrier as a result of the charge carrier being disposed between the first and second potential barriers when the voltage of the second electrode changed;
• and
• as a result of the charge carrier being captured between the first potential barrier and the second potential barrier, storing the charge carrier in the at least one charge carrier storage region.