A Method to Achieve High Dynamic Range in a CMOS Image Sensor Using Interleaved Row Readout

We present a readout scheme for CMOS image sensors that can be used to achieve arbitrarily high dynamic range (HDR) in principle. The linear full well capacity (LFWC) in high signal regions was extended 50 times from 20 to 984 ke ^{-} via an interlaced row-wise readout order, while the noise floor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE sensors journal 2022-11, Vol.22 (22), p.21619-21627
Main Authors: Wocial, Thomas, Stefanov, Konstantin D., Martin, William E., Barnes, John R., Jones, Hugh R. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
CMOS
CMOS image sensors
Dark current
Dynamic range
dynamic range (DR)
Floors
image sensor
Linearity
local integration time
Photodiodes
random addressing
row-wise
Sensor phenomena and characterization
Signal to noise ratio
Timing
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Summary:We present a readout scheme for CMOS image sensors that can be used to achieve arbitrarily high dynamic range (HDR) in principle. The linear full well capacity (LFWC) in high signal regions was extended 50 times from 20 to 984 ke ^{-} via an interlaced row-wise readout order, while the noise floor remained unchanged in low signal regions, resulting in a 34-dB increase in DR. The peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is increased in a continuous fashion from 43 to 60 dB. This was achieved by summing user-selected rows that were read out multiple times. Centroiding uncertainties were lowered when template-fitting a projected pattern, compared to the standard readout scheme. Example applications are aimed at scientific imaging due to the linearity and PSNR increase.
ISSN:1530-437X
1558-1748
DOI:10.1109/JSEN.2022.3211152