As artificial intelligence (AI) moves toward practical application and gradually gains popularity in fields such as mobile terminals, smart homes, industrial robots, and future autonomous driving, accurate environmental perception by intelligent terminals has become particularly critical. As a key sensor for machine 3D vision, the Time-of-Flight (ToF) 3D image sensor—based on laser pulse time-of-flight principles—delivers an extra dimension of perception compared to traditional 2D image sensors (CMOS Image Sensors). It endows intelligent terminals with more precise and efficient capabilities for capturing environmental scenarios.
However, the high cost of ToF ranging 3D imaging based on laser pulses currently poses a bottleneck hindering the development of artificial intelligence. A typical example is the LiDAR systems used in autonomous driving today. Although also based on ToF laser ranging principles, 64-channel LiDAR devices adopt a discrete chip and component design, cramming numerous discrete components and chips into a compact cavity. This design struggles to resolve mass production challenges related to cost, power consumption, heat dissipation, and stable reliability.
To address these pressing industry pain points, Core Vision Microelectronics has launched a laser ranging ToF chip based on single-photon detection technology. Fabricated using a low-cost CMOS process, this chip integrates an ultra-high sensitivity, high-resolution single-photon detection array, alongside independently developed ultra-high-precision ranging circuits and anti-interference digital algorithms. Compared to indirect ToF 3D ranging solutions that modify CMOS pixel image sensors, direct ToF technology based on Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) arrays offers exceptional photoelectric detection sensitivity. It enables long-distance detection with low laser power, thereby reducing the overall system’s power consumption and cost.
Nanjing Core Vision Microelectronics holds a leading position globally in single-photon ranging technology and its practical applications. Founded in May 2018, the company boasts advanced optoelectronic conversion device design and single-photon detection imaging technologies. Its core business focuses on developing a portfolio of 1D and 3D ToF sensing chips based on single-photon detection. These chips are widely applied in consumer electronics such as robotic vacuums, drones, and smartphones, as well as in scenarios including virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR), smart homes, and autonomous driving LiDAR systems.
Core Vision Microelectronics’ key competitive advantages in the LiDAR chip sector include:
Cost-Effective SPAD Array Chips: Based on low-cost CMOS processes, these chips deliver superior cost-performance ratios. Leveraging direct ToF detection, they outperform indirect ToF or coherent optical solutions with lower power consumption, simpler system architecture, longer detection ranges, and higher precision.
Enhanced Receiver Sensitivity: The innovative single-photon detection technology drastically improves receiver sensitivity, enabling a significant reduction in the number and power of lasers required on the transmitter side.
Fully Integrated Receiver Chip: The independently designed receiver chip integrates a single-photon detection array, analog-digital hybrid control circuits for single-photon pixels, anti-ambient light algorithms, memory modules, and high-speed interfaces. This high level of integration substantially lowers overall system costs.
Experienced Core Team: The company’s core R&D team possesses over a decade of industry expertise in optoelectronic integrated circuits and silicon photonics, ensuring high efficiency in product design and manufacturing.
Laser ranging 3D imaging technology is a current research hotspot in machine vision. By emitting laser beams to detect targets, capturing reflected light to obtain point cloud data, and processing the data for imaging, it generates precise 3D stereoscopic images with centimeter-level ranging accuracy. Boasting high precision, fast operation speed, and excellent efficiency, this technology holds significant application potential in areas such as automotive advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS)/autonomous driving, AR/VR, robot 3D visual positioning and navigation, spatial environment mapping, and security and surveillance.
The working principle of laser ranging is analogous to that of traditional radar systems. A laser transmitter emits laser signals that illuminate the target object, and the reflected light signals are collected by a receiver. By measuring the round-trip flight time of the light signals through the air (Time-of-Flight), precise physical distances can be calculated. Currently, there are two primary measurement methods:
Direct ToF Ranging: The transmitter illuminates the target with narrow laser pulses, and the receiver uses a Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) to directly measure the flight time of the laser pulses through the air.
Indirect ToF Ranging: The transmitter emits continuous light modulated by sine or square waves. The receiver calculates the flight time indirectly by measuring the phase shift of the modulated signal during its round trip, relative to the signal’s period.
Both methods can calculate the precise distance to the target object based on the constant speed of light. The direct ToF method, in particular, offers advantages such as high signal-to-noise ratio, high precision, wide dynamic range, and resistance to multipath interference. When combined with the ultra-high sensitivity of single-photon detection devices, it is ideally suited for long-distance detection under low-light conditions, providing an ultra-high-sensitivity, low-power solution for laser ranging and 3D detection imaging.

Current laser ranging and imaging systems are limited in consumer market applications due to factors such as high cost, large size, and low integration. The industry anticipates that advancements in silicon photonics technology will bring revolutionary changes to laser ranging technology.
The integration of large-scale single-photon detection arrays has long been a technical challenge. At present, the mainstream industry solution still relies on discrete components to build LiDAR systems. Such systems feature complex architectures; the APD sensors employed have low photoelectric conversion current, which leads to crosstalk issues in multi-channel configurations, making it difficult to scale up the channel count. Meanwhile, the increased number of multi-stage amplification components keeps costs high, hindering large-scale commercial mass production (Figure 2).
Another drawback of discrete component solutions is the significant measurement error caused by varying reflectivity of target objects—errors can even reach tens of centimeters—requiring resource-intensive algorithmic calibration. Core Vision Microelectronics’ single-chip solution based on single-photon detection (Figure 3) can achieve a maximum measurement error of less than 1 cm for targets with different reflectivity levels, placing it at the advanced level of laser ranging technology.



其中，单点测距芯片VI4300系列实现了从0.1米到200米的全量程高精度测试，将此前的同类型测距芯片测距范围提升了100倍。并且可以抵抗100 KLux的环境光干扰，从而适用于室外阳光环境中的测量。VI4300系列芯片在测距领域有着广泛的应用：例如近距离的扫地机LDS模组，摄像头激光对焦模组；中距离的手持测距仪模组，AGV防碰撞模组，车道检测模组；远距离的自动驾驶车辆激光雷达等。

The newly launched series of single-photon detection laser ranging and 3D imaging chips (available in specifications including single-point, 32×32 single-photon pixel array, and 256×64 single-photon pixel array) are based on the direct time-of-flight (d-ToF) laser ranging method, providing a one-stop solution for miniature ToF sensing in the market. Leveraging independently developed Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) technology and proprietary ToF acquisition and processing techniques, Core Vision Microelectronics’ inaugural laser ranging and 3D imaging chips boast substantial performance advantages.
Among them, the VI4300 series single-point ranging chips achieve high-precision full-range measurement from 0.1 meters to 200 meters, extending the ranging distance of comparable chips on the market by 100 times. Furthermore, these chips can resist ambient light interference up to 100 kLux, making them suitable for measurements in outdoor sunlight environments. The VI4300 series chips have a wide range of applications in the field of distance measurement: for short-range scenarios, they can be integrated into robotic vacuum LDS modules and camera laser autofocus modules; for medium-range scenarios, they are applicable to handheld rangefinder modules, AGV anti-collision modules, and lane detection modules; for long-range scenarios, they can be used in LiDAR systems for autonomous vehicles.
Taking autonomous driving LiDAR, a focal point of the industry, as an example, compared with sensors such as cameras, LiDAR systems based on the VI4300 single-point ranging chip can not only generate 3D position models but also offer longer detection range, higher measurement precision, and faster response speed, while remaining unaffected by ambient light. It can be said that the VI4300 single-point ranging chip provides an excellent chip solution for LiDAR systems.
In addition, Core Vision Microelectronics has exclusively launched two fully integrated array single-photon ToF chips (models: VI3810 and VI4320), which lead the industry by a significant margin in terms of performance, ease of use, and manufacturability. Array ToF chips also have broad application prospects in spatial perception and 3D modeling. Based on the VI3810 chip, the 32×32 pixel array module co-developed by Core Vision Microelectronics and the 27th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation has passed acceptance testing. Meanwhile, Core Vision Microelectronics’ array chips hold great application potential in facial recognition, liveness detection, mobile AR, security, and biometric detection.