High-speed high-sensitivity low-noise scientific CMOS image sensors
30 Mar 2004-Vol. 5274, pp 194-205
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a 0.35-micrometer digital CMOS image sensor with high sensitivity and low noise for single-photon/single charged particle efficiency.
Abstract: Image sensors for scientific applications face unusually demanding performance requirements for speed, sensitivity, noise, dynamic range and data throughput. Dynamic proton radiography, for example, requires both extremely high frame rates (multi-MHz) and high dynamic range (~80 dB). Electron microscopy, particle physics, nuclear science and astrophysics applications requires high sensitivity and low noise for single-photon/single charged particle efficiency, often in extremely large (>100 M-pixel) arrays with tremendous sustained throughput (>50 G-pixels/s) and radiation-tolerance. This paper covers recent research results that extend standard CMOS image sensor performance in these areas. Signal to noise ratios as high as 90 dB have been achieved using a new, low-overhead, column-level active reset technique. This image sensor achieves output noise levels of ~45 microvolts, rms, without the use of correlated double sampling. Enhanced sensitivity for single-photon detection has been obtained by using an epitaxial silicon region as a higher cross-section CMOS sensor, with low-capacitance diode or large-area photogate charge collection. This development has made possible the use of standard 0.25 micrometer digital CMOS sensor arrays in place of expensive hybrid high-resistivity silicon sensor focal plane arrays plus CMOS readout circuit combinations. High-speed transient image sensors with frame rates as high as 10 M-frames/s, combined with 13-bit resolution, has been achieved using on-focal-plane frame storage. Fabricated in a standard digital 0.35 micrometer digital CMOS technology, the latter device includes a photodetector, a charge-integrating amplifier and an array of 64 sample circuits per pixel. Finally, a 100+ M-frames/s solid-state "streak camera" prototype is discussed which, in conjunction with the possible use of 3-D packaging techniques, may yield a sensor array capable of acquiring images at rates exceeding 10 T-pixels/s.
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TL;DR: A CMOS image sensor featuring a novel spiking pixel design and a robust digital intermediate read-out is proposed for deep submicron CMOS technologies and it is suggested that deep sub-0.18 will enable the full potential of the proposed Gray encoding spiking pixels.
Abstract: In this paper, a CMOS image sensor featuring a novel spiking pixel design and a robust digital intermediate read-out is proposed for deep submicron CMOS technologies. The proposed read-out scheme exhibits a relative insensitivity to the ongoing aggressive scaling of the supply voltage. It is based on a novel compact spiking pixel circuit, which combines digitizing and memory functions. Illumination is encoded into a Gray code using a very simple yet robust Gray 8-bit counter memory. Circuit simulations and experiments demonstrate the successful operation of a 64 64 image sensor, implemented in a 0.35 CMOS technology. A scalability analysis is presented. It suggests that deep sub-0.18 will enable the full potential of the proposed Gray encoding spiking pixel. Potential applications include multiresolution imaging and motion detection.
26 citations
Cites background from "High-speed high-sensitivity low-noi..."
...The performance requirements can be very stringent in terms of frame rate (for tactical IR imaging [7], [8]), high dynamic range (90 dB and more to cope with outdoor illumination conditions), low noise and high sensitivity (to allow for single particle detection in nuclear and physics experiments), and massive data throughput ( 50 Gpixels/s for high-resolution multimegapixel arrays) [9]....
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...Off-chip digital FPN correction could reduce the level of FPN by a factor of at least 30 [9]....
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TL;DR: In this paper, a method for real-time visualisation of reactions performed in-capillary by the technique of electrophoretically mediated microanalysis (EMMA) is described, using a two dimensional imaging detection system.
21 citations
Patent•
23 Aug 2011TL;DR: In a transmission electron microscope detector system, image data is read out from the pixels and analyzed during an image acquisition period as discussed by the authors, and the image acquisition process is modified depending on the results of the analysis.
Abstract: In a transmission electron microscope detector system, image data is read out from the pixels and analyzed during an image acquisition period. The image acquisition process is modified depending on the results of the analysis. For example, the analyses may indicate the inclusion in the data of an image artifact, such as charging or bubbling, and data including the artifact may be eliminated form the final image. CMOS detectors provide for selective read out of pixels at high data rates, allowing for real-time adaptive imaging.
21 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an active pixel sensor was used in an electrophoretic enzyme assay for penicillinase (beta-lactamase) with multiple substrates.
Abstract: We report application of a new UV imaging detector incorporating an active pixel sensor in an electrophoretic enzyme assay for penicillinase (beta-lactamase) with multiple substrates. The method based on electrophoretically mediated microanalysis was developed on a standard CE system with a single-point diode array detector and 200 nm UV wavelength, then transferred to a parallel capillary setup with the UV imaging detector for screening of penicillinase substrate specificity. One capillary is used for the assay and the other for reference, with an enzyme solution plug introduced into the first at the same time as a water plug into the second capillary. A mixture of antibiotics and markers is subsequently introduced as a sample plug to both capillaries, and driven through the enzyme (or water) plug by application of voltage. Most individual reactant and product peaks were separated and compounds amenable to beta-lactam hydrolysis could readily be identified and the extent of the reaction quantified within a single electrophoretic run.
19 citations
TL;DR: Continuous engagement EMMA experiments showed significant benefits by comparison with plug-plug EMMA, improving sensitivity by extending enzyme-substrate interaction times and allowing measurement of time-dependent reaction in the substrate zones passing the four windows.
12 citations
References
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11 Feb 2001-Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A-accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment
TL;DR: In this article, a novel active pixel sensor (MAPS) for charged particle tracking made in a standard CMOS technology is proposed, which has a special structure, which allows the high detection efficiency required for tracking applications.
Abstract: A novel Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) for charged particle tracking made in a standard CMOS technology is proposed. The sensor is a photodiode, which is readily available in a CMOS technology. The diode has a special structure, which allows the high detection efficiency required for tracking applications. The partially depleted thin epitaxial silicon layer is used as a sensitive detector volume. Semiconductor device simulation, using either ToSCA based or 3-D ISE-TCAD software packages shows that the charge collection is efficient, reasonably fast (order of 100 ns), and the charge spreading limited to a few pixels only. A first prototype has been designed, fabricated and tested. It is made of four arrays each containing 64×64 pixels, with a readout pitch of 20 μm in both directions. The device is fabricated using standard submicron 0.6 μm CMOS process, which features twin-tub implanted in a p-type epitaxial layer, a characteristic common to many modern CMOS VLSI processes. Extensive tests made with soft X-ray source ( 55 Fe) and minimum ionising particles (15 GeV/ c pions) fully demonstrate the predicted performances, with the individual pixel noise (ENC) below 20 electrons and the Signal-to-Noise ratio for both 5.9 keV X-rays and Minimum Ionising Particles (MIP) of the order of 30. This novel device opens new perspectives in high-precision vertex detectors in Particle Physics experiments, as well as in other application, like low-energy beta particle imaging, visible light single photon imaging (using the Hybrid Photon Detector approach) and high-precision slow neutron imaging.
395 citations
"High-speed high-sensitivity low-noi..." refers background in this paper
...Recent work has demonstrated that standard CMOS active pixel sensors (APS) [1] can be used to detect ionizing particles with high spatial resolution and good signal to noise [2-8]....
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01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: With an ADC per pixel, massively parallel conversion and high-speed digital readout become possible, completely eliminating analog readout bottlenecks.
Abstract: In a Digital Pixel Sensor (DPS), each pixel has an ADC, all ADCs operate in parallel, and digital data is directly read out of the image sensor array as in a conventional digital memory [1]. The DPS architecture offers several advantages over analog image sensors including better scaling with CMOS technology due to reduced analog circuit performance demands and the elimination of column fixed-pattern noise and column readout noise. With an ADC per pixel, massively parallel conversion and high-speed digital readout become possible, completely eliminating analog readout bottlenecks. This benefits traditional high speed imaging applications and enables new imaging enhancement capabilities such as multiple sampling for increasing sensor dynamic range [2]. Achieving acceptable pixel sizes using DPS, however, requires the use of a 0.18 μm or below CMOS process, which is challenging due to reduced supply voltages and increased leakage currents [3].
110 citations
"High-speed high-sensitivity low-noi..." refers background in this paper
...Efforts to reach higher continuously-operating CMOS image sensor speeds, such as by the use of massively-parallel onfocal-plane digitization and fast digital readout [10], inevitably run into output bandwidth bottlenecks that currently limit a mega-pixel device to perhaps 10 k-frames/s....
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07 Sep 1998
TL;DR: In this article, a color CMOS image sensor has been developed which meets the performance of mainstream CCDs, which yields a high light sensitivity, expressed by the conversion gain of 9 (mu) V/electron and the quantum efficiency fill factor product of 28 percent.
Abstract: A color CMOS image sensor has been developed which meets the performance of mainstream CCDs. The pixel combines a high fill factor with a low diode capacitance. This yields a high light sensitivity, expressed by the conversion gain of 9 (mu) V/electron and the quantum efficiency fill factor product of 28 percent. The temporal noise is 63 electrons, and the dynamic range is 67 dB. An offset compensation circuit in the column amplifiers limits the peak-to-peak fixed pattern noise to 0.15 percent of the saturation voltage.
70 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the design and testing of two generations of active pixel sensors (APS) chips are discussed, each array is divided into sub-arrays in which different sensor structures (4 in the first version and 16 in the second) and readout circuits are employed.
Abstract: Active Pixel Sensor (APS) technology has shown promise for next-generation vertex detectors. This paper discusses the design and testing of two generations of APS chips. Both are arrays of 128 by 128 pixels, each 20 by 20 micro-m. Each array is divided into sub-arrays in which different sensor structures (4 in the first version and 16 in the second) and/or readout circuits are employed. Measurements of several of these structures under Fe55 exposure are reported. The sensors have also been irradiated by 55 MeV protons to test for radiation damage. The radiation increased the noise and reduced the signal. The noise can be explained by shot noise from the increased leakage current and the reduction in signal is due to charge being trapped in the epi layer. Nevertheless, the radiation effect is small for the expected exposures at RHIC and RHIC II. Finally, we describe our concept for mechanically supporting a thin silicon wafer in an actual detector.
58 citations
"High-speed high-sensitivity low-noi..." refers background in this paper
...Recent work has demonstrated that standard CMOS active pixel sensors (APS) [1] can be used to detect ionizing particles with high spatial resolution and good signal to noise [2-8]....
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01 Feb 2002-Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A-accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment
TL;DR: In this article, a new generation of semi-conducting pixel sensors for detecting minimum ionising particles (m.i.p.) was designed and first prototypes of Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS), called MIMOSA, 2 were fabricated in a standard CMOS technology.
Abstract: A new generation of semi-conducting pixel sensors for detecting minimum ionising particles (m.i.p.) was designed and first prototypes of Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS), called MIMOSA, 2 were fabricated in a standard CMOS technology. The performances of the first prototypes were evaluated with high energy π− beams and with an X-ray source in strong magnetic fields. The beam test results demonstrate that the sensors detect m.i.p.s with very high efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio and provide excellent spatial resolution. The influence of strong magnetic fields is observed to be modest.
34 citations
"High-speed high-sensitivity low-noi..." refers background in this paper
...Recent work has demonstrated that standard CMOS active pixel sensors (APS) [1] can be used to detect ionizing particles with high spatial resolution and good signal to noise [2-8]....
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