For a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensor with highly linear, low noise and high frame rate, the nonlinear correction and frame rate improvement techniques are becoming very important. The in-pixel source follower transistor and the integration capacitor on the floating diffusion node cause linearity degradation. In order to address this problem, this paper proposes an adaptive nonlinear ramp generator circuit based on dummy pixels used in single-slope analog-to-digital converter topology for a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor. In the proposed approach, the traditional linear ramp generator circuit is replaced with the new proposed adaptive nonlinear ramp generator circuit that can mitigate the nonlinearity of the pixel unit circuit, especially the gain nonlinearity of the source follower transistor and the integration capacitor nonlinearity of the floating diffusion node. Moreover, in order to enhance the frame rate and address the issue of high column fixed pattern noise, a new readout scheme of fully differential pipeline sampling quantization with a double auto-zeroing technique is proposed. Compared with the conventional readout structure without a fully differential pipeline sampling quantization technique and double auto-zeroing technique, the proposed readout scheme cannot only enhance the frame rate but can also improve the consistency of the offset and delay information of different column comparators and significantly reduce the column fixed pattern noise. The proposed techniques are simulated and verified with a prototype chip fabricated using typical 180 nm CMOS process technology. The obtained measurement results demonstrate that the overall nonlinearity of the CMOS image sensor is reduced from 1.03% to 0.047%, the efficiency of the comparator is improved from 85.3% to 100%, and the column fixed pattern noise is reduced from 0.43% to 0.019%.

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Aiming at the requirement of high speed and precision, low-power and large-capacity load of serial data interface for aerospace super large array(15k×15k) CMOS image sensor, a design scheme low voltage differential signal (LVDS) driver by combining the split-length method with the pre-emphasis technique is proposed. Firstly, comparing with the general design schemes, the present scheme uses the split-length compensation method to increase effectively the unity-gain bandwidth while keeping the op-amp gain constant. Secondly, the pre-emphasis technique is used to compensate the LVDS driver for high-frequency components to improve the driving capability of the capacitive load and high speed signal integrity (SI). The simulation results show that the accuracy of the common-mode feedback voltage is improved by using the split-length compensation method, and also the common-mode voltage changes below 15 mV. The pre-emphasis technique is used to enhance the amplitude of the high-frequency components lost during the high-speed transmission. The quality of the signal eye diagram during high-speed transmission reduces the bit error rate, and both the transmission rate and the driving load capacity are two times more than the general design (1.2 Gb/s@12 pF), and the quiescent current consumption is only 4.6 mA@12 pF. The present LVDS driver design is implemented in a typical CMOS process of 0.18 μm.