Patent ID: 11868742
Assignee: ID QUANTIQUE SA
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 13:
14. A QRNG comprising:
a QIS that includes an array of pixels, wherein each pixel is configured to convert each of at least one photon incident on the pixel into a respective photocharge-carrier that is stored in the pixel; and wherein the QIS is configured to readout from each pixel, with single-photocharge-carrier sensitivity, each of the at least one respective photocharge-carriers, if any, stored in the pixel within a time interval, so as to generate a pixel signal corresponding to a number of photocharge-carriers stored in the pixel, wherein each pixel has sufficient in-pixel conversion gain, without in-pixel avalanche gain, to provide for readout of the photocharge-carriers with single-charge sensitivity and resolution; and
comparison circuitry configured to compare for each pixel, the pixel signal with a threshold level to generate for each pixel a bit having a binary value that depends on whether or not the pixel signal is less than the threshold level or not less than the threshold level, wherein the binary values are substantially equiprobable based on the threshold level, thereby providing for binary output data having high quality randomness.