Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Pain, B..
Availability of mature sub-micron CMOS technology and the advent of the new low noise active pixel sensor (APS) concept have enabled the development of low power, miniature, single-chip, CMOS digital imagers in the decade of the 1990's.
Low-power, low-cost, miniature and integrated digital imaging systems are expected to be widely used in consumer electronics in the near future. While CMOS technology has been responsible for the phenomenal growth in consumer electronics, micro-porcessors, memory, audio systems, and radio-frequency circuits (e.g. cellular phones), till recently, the video technology remained outside this mainstream.
Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) is an important figure of merit in focal plane array sensors, especially for accurate target positions such as star trackers.
In this paper, we have identified timing and circuit layout considerations that are critical for implementing a digital CMOS camera-on-a-chip.
Switching and amplifying characteristics of a newly developed monolithic InGaAs Active Pixel Imager Array are presented. The sensor array is fabricated from InGaAs material epitaxially deposited on an InP substrate. It consists of an InGaAs photodiode connected to InP depletion-mode junction field effect transistors (JFETs) for low leakage, low power, and fast control of circuit signal amplifying, buffering, selection, and reset. This monolithically integrated active pixel sensor configuration eliminates the need for hybridization with silicon multiplexer. In addition, the configuration allows the sensor to be front illuminated, making it sensitive to visible as well as near infrared signal radiation. Adapting the existing 1.55 micrometer fiber optical communication technology, this integration will be an ideal system of optoelectronic integration for dual band (Visible/IR) applications near room temperature, for use in atmospheric gas sensing in space, and for target identification on earth. In this paper, two different types of small 4 x 1 test arrays will be described. The effectiveness of switching and amplifying circuits will be discussed in terms of circuit effectiveness (leakage, operating frequency, and temperature) in preparation for the second phase demonstration of integrated, two-dimensional monolithic InGaAs active pixel sensor arrays for applications in transportable shipboard surveillance, night vision, and emission spectroscopy.
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Low-power, high-speed, accurate computation of centroid from a pre-defined window in the image plane is important for a number of space-based and commercial applications.
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Switching and amplifying characteristics of a newly developed monolithic InGaAs Active Pixel Imager Array are presented. The sensor array is fabricated from InGaAs material epitaxially deposited on an InP substrate.
For more than three decades now, CMOS technology has been the backbone behind the phenomenal advances in low-cost, low-power, reliable, highly integrated and miniaturized system development.
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Radiation hardened/tolerant Active Pixel Sensor CMOS imagers that can be adaptively windowed with low power, on-chip control, timing, digital output and provide data-channel efficient on-chip compression, high bandwidth optical communications links are being designed and investigated to reduce size, weight and cost for common optics/hybrid architectures.
Design and operation of a high speed, low noise, wide dynamic range linear infrared multiplexer array for readout of infrared detectors with large detector capacitance is presented. Image lag related to abrupt transitions of signal currents is analyzed.
Design and operation of an ultra-high dynamic-range, low noise CMOS focal plane readout circuit featuring in-pixel automatic background suppression is presented.
A newly fabricated Monolithic InGaAs Active Pixel Image Sensor is presented, and its readout characteristics are described.
A low power smart vision system based on a large format (currently 1Kx1K) active pixel sensor (APS) integrated with a programmable neural processor for fast vision applications is presented.