TY - GEN
T1 - A 0.7e-rms-temporal-readout-noise CMOS image sensor for low-light-level imaging
AU - Chen, Yue
AU - Xu, Yang
AU - Chae, Youngcheol
AU - Mierop, Adri
AU - Wang, Xinyang
AU - Theuwissen, Albert
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - For low-light-level imaging, the performance of a CMOS image sensor (CIS) is usually limited by the temporal readout noise (TRN) generated from its analog readout circuit chain. Although a sub-electron TRN level can be achieved with a high-gain pixel-level amplifier, the pixel uniformity is highly impaired up to a few percent by its open-loop amplifier structure [1]. The TRN can be suppressed without this penalty by employing either a high-gain column-level amplifier [2] or a correlated multiple sampling (CMS) technique [3-5]. However, only 1-to-2 electron TRN level has been reported with the individual use of these approaches [2-5], and the low-frequency noise of the in-pixel source follower i.e. 1/fand RTS noise is a further limitation. Therefore, by implementing a high-gain column-level amplifier and CMS technique together with an in-pixel buried-channel source follower (BSF) [6], the TRN level can be reduced even further.
AB - For low-light-level imaging, the performance of a CMOS image sensor (CIS) is usually limited by the temporal readout noise (TRN) generated from its analog readout circuit chain. Although a sub-electron TRN level can be achieved with a high-gain pixel-level amplifier, the pixel uniformity is highly impaired up to a few percent by its open-loop amplifier structure [1]. The TRN can be suppressed without this penalty by employing either a high-gain column-level amplifier [2] or a correlated multiple sampling (CMS) technique [3-5]. However, only 1-to-2 electron TRN level has been reported with the individual use of these approaches [2-5], and the low-frequency noise of the in-pixel source follower i.e. 1/fand RTS noise is a further limitation. Therefore, by implementing a high-gain column-level amplifier and CMS technique together with an in-pixel buried-channel source follower (BSF) [6], the TRN level can be reduced even further.
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U2 - 10.1109/ISSCC.2012.6177059
DO - 10.1109/ISSCC.2012.6177059
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84860676942
SN - 9781467303736
T3 - Digest of Technical Papers - IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference
SP - 384
EP - 385
BT - 2012 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, ISSCC 2012 - Digest of Technical Papers
T2 - 59th International Solid-State Circuits Conference, ISSCC 2012
Y2 - 19 February 2012 through 23 February 2012
ER -