Indium gallium arsenide and colloidal quantum dot SWIR sensors can produce stronger contrast imagery than their visible counterparts due to the reduced scattering in the SWIR band. A 640 x 512 format, 10 μm pixel pitch low-noise highsensitivity DROIC, with a capacitive transimpedance amplifier pixel front end, for SWIR imaging is presented. This DROIC has variable gain pixels with well capacities of approximately 22 ke- in high gain, 160 ke- in mid gain and 1.1 Me- in low gain. The readout boasts a low read noise of only 15 e- rms at room temperature in high gain with correlated double sampling. This DROIC can run at 700 fps full frame and 8.9 kfps for 32 x 32 window.
Cyan Systems has continued to mature our small pixel camera performance, including improvements in the packaging, optics, and electronics. The associated camera components demonstrate key resolution and enabling capabilities. We report on recent results from our new digital readout integrated circuit (DROIC) small pixel mid-wave infrared camera with an ultra-high-definition (3840 x 2160) format, in addition to demonstrations with Cyan’s CS-3 full-high-definition (1920 x 1080) camera. We address small pixel spatial sampling and modulation transfer function issues as the pixel size shrinks, and we examine the difference between the performance of present devices and the new generation of small pixel cameras.
KEYWORDS: High dynamic range imaging, Long wavelength infrared, Infrared imaging, Readout integrated circuits, Digital electronics, Analog to digital converters
Digital pixels enable the disassociation of well capacity with noise floor. This allows for better sensitivity for small signals and significantly increased well capacity for large signals. A 640 x 512 format, 20 μm pixel pitch digital pixel readout integrated circuit (DPROIC) for high dynamic range infrared imaging is presented. The architecture uses an extended counting approach that is optimized for low power consumption. This DPROIC boasts a programmable well capacity of 40 Me- in high gain (HG) and >400 Me- in low gain (LG) with no rollover. Read noise is 50 e- rms, HG, and 330 e- rms, LG, for integrate-then-read and 85 e- rms, HG, and 700 e- rms, LG, for integrate-while-read at 80 K. This readout, with LWIR SLS detectors, achieves single digit millikelvin noise-equivalent temperature difference.
Intra-frame high dynamic range (HDR) infrared imaging is accomplished in a 1280 x 720 format, 8 um pixel pitch digital readout integrated circuit (DROIC) by spatially combining neighboring pixels with different integration times to obtain HDR pixels. Intra-frame HDR imaging achieves the same level of dynamic range improvement as traditional inter-frame HDR imaging without compromising temporal resolution. Proximal interpolation to retain the spatial resolution of the HDR infrared frame, tone mapping to effectively display HDR infrared content on limited dynamic range displays, and pseudo-coloring to better visualize HDR infrared imagery are discussed.
KEYWORDS: High dynamic range imaging, Infrared imaging, Readout integrated circuits, Digital electronics, Temporal resolution, Spatial resolution, Mid-IR, Long wavelength infrared
A 1280 x 720 format, 8 μm pixel pitch digital readout integrated circuit (DROIC) for intra-frame high dynamic range (HDR) infrared imaging is presented. Unlike traditional inter-frame HDR imaging where frames with different integration times are temporally combined to obtain an HDR frame, intra-frame HDR imaging is accomplished by spatially interpolating neighboring pixels with different integration times to obtain HDR pixels, thereby achieving the same level of dynamic range improvement without compromising temporal resolution and mostly retaining spatial resolution. In intraframe HDR mode, the infrared imager can achieve a phenomenal >57 dB improvement in dynamic range over normal mode
KEYWORDS: Image sensors, Analog electronics, Calibration, Sensors, Signal to noise ratio, Quantization, Capacitors, Binary data, Resistors, Data conversion
This book is intended for image sensor professionals and those interested in the boundary between sensor systems and analog and mixed-signal integrated circuit design. It provides in-depth tips and techniques necessary to understand and implement these two types of complex circuit systems together for a wide variety of architectures or trade off one against another. The tutorial begins with a brief introduction to the history and definition of a digital image sensor, as well as converter characteristics, before addressing DAC and ADC architectures. Later chapters cover pipeline ADC designs, digital correction, calibration, and testing according to IEEE standards.
SC1076: Analog-to-Digital Converters for Digital ROICs
This course surveys structure and operation of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) implemented on digital readout integrated circuits (ROICs) and digital image sensors. Attendees will learn how to evaluate ADC architectures using basic figures of merit for use in different sensor formats. We will cover a wide range of cutting edge architectures and see published examples without delving into transistor level theory. We will survey both academia and industrial ADC architectures. From this survey attendees will discover the industrial design evolution convergence down to a few workhorse architectures and what lessons it imparts to the image sensor community. If you are interested in the digital ROIC revolution or if you ever interface with designers or evaluate digital ROIC proposals, then you will benefit from taking this course.
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