A digital vision sensor with pixel level Analog-to-Digital converter

Amine Bermak; Abdesselam Bouzerdoum; Kamran Eshraghian

doi:10.1117/12.449166

A digital vision sensor with pixel level Analog-to-Digital converter

Amine Bermak^*, Abdesselam Bouzerdoum, Kamran Eshraghian

^*Corresponding author for this work

Edith Cowan University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper we propose an on-pixel Analog-to-Digital converter based on pulse frequency modulation (PFM) scheme. This PFM based converter presents a very viable solution for pixel level based ADC. It uses a very simple and robust circuit that can be implemented in a compact area resulting in a 23% fill-factor. The low-light performance of the PFM converter is improved by using a wider counting period. By modifying the counting period, it is possible to change the saturation level of the ADC and hence improve the dynamic range of the sensor. Image lag is eliminated in the PFM On-pixel ADC since a reset of the photodetector is performed after the conversion period. In addition, the PFM on-pixel ADC has a very important advantage: it is insensitive to variations of the supply and reference voltages. The pixel based ADC has been designed and fabricated using CMOS 0.25 μm technology.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	353-358
Number of pages	6
Journal	Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume	4591
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1117/12.449166
Publication status	Published - 2001
Externally published	Yes
Event	Electronics and Structures for MEMS II - Adelaide, Australia Duration: 17 Dec 2001 → 19 Dec 2001

Keywords

Analog-to-digital converter
CMOS image sensors
Vision chips

Access to Document

10.1117/12.449166

Cite this

@article{a8d186e265da445c9af4a574b6c48ef3,

title = "A digital vision sensor with pixel level Analog-to-Digital converter",

abstract = "In this paper we propose an on-pixel Analog-to-Digital converter based on pulse frequency modulation (PFM) scheme. This PFM based converter presents a very viable solution for pixel level based ADC. It uses a very simple and robust circuit that can be implemented in a compact area resulting in a 23% fill-factor. The low-light performance of the PFM converter is improved by using a wider counting period. By modifying the counting period, it is possible to change the saturation level of the ADC and hence improve the dynamic range of the sensor. Image lag is eliminated in the PFM On-pixel ADC since a reset of the photodetector is performed after the conversion period. In addition, the PFM on-pixel ADC has a very important advantage: it is insensitive to variations of the supply and reference voltages. The pixel based ADC has been designed and fabricated using CMOS 0.25 μm technology.",

keywords = "Analog-to-digital converter, CMOS image sensors, Vision chips",

author = "Amine Bermak and Abdesselam Bouzerdoum and Kamran Eshraghian",

year = "2001",

doi = "10.1117/12.449166",

language = "English",

volume = "4591",

pages = "353--358",

journal = "Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",

issn = "0277-786X",

publisher = "SPIE",

note = "Electronics and Structures for MEMS II ; Conference date: 17-12-2001 Through 19-12-2001",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A digital vision sensor with pixel level Analog-to-Digital converter

AU - Bermak, Amine

AU - Bouzerdoum, Abdesselam

AU - Eshraghian, Kamran

PY - 2001

Y1 - 2001

N2 - In this paper we propose an on-pixel Analog-to-Digital converter based on pulse frequency modulation (PFM) scheme. This PFM based converter presents a very viable solution for pixel level based ADC. It uses a very simple and robust circuit that can be implemented in a compact area resulting in a 23% fill-factor. The low-light performance of the PFM converter is improved by using a wider counting period. By modifying the counting period, it is possible to change the saturation level of the ADC and hence improve the dynamic range of the sensor. Image lag is eliminated in the PFM On-pixel ADC since a reset of the photodetector is performed after the conversion period. In addition, the PFM on-pixel ADC has a very important advantage: it is insensitive to variations of the supply and reference voltages. The pixel based ADC has been designed and fabricated using CMOS 0.25 μm technology.

AB - In this paper we propose an on-pixel Analog-to-Digital converter based on pulse frequency modulation (PFM) scheme. This PFM based converter presents a very viable solution for pixel level based ADC. It uses a very simple and robust circuit that can be implemented in a compact area resulting in a 23% fill-factor. The low-light performance of the PFM converter is improved by using a wider counting period. By modifying the counting period, it is possible to change the saturation level of the ADC and hence improve the dynamic range of the sensor. Image lag is eliminated in the PFM On-pixel ADC since a reset of the photodetector is performed after the conversion period. In addition, the PFM on-pixel ADC has a very important advantage: it is insensitive to variations of the supply and reference voltages. The pixel based ADC has been designed and fabricated using CMOS 0.25 μm technology.

KW - Analog-to-digital converter

KW - CMOS image sensors

KW - Vision chips

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0035771091&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1117/12.449166

DO - 10.1117/12.449166

M3 - Conference article

AN - SCOPUS:0035771091

SN - 0277-786X

VL - 4591

SP - 353

EP - 358

JO - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

JF - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

T2 - Electronics and Structures for MEMS II

Y2 - 17 December 2001 through 19 December 2001

ER -

A digital vision sensor with pixel level Analog-to-Digital converter

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this