This brief presents a complete set of CMOS basic building blocks for low-cost scanning infrared (IR) cryogenic imagers. Low-power and compact novel circuits are proposed for single-capacitor integration and correlated double sampling, embedded pixel test, pixel charge-multiplexing and video composition and buffering. In order to validate the new basic building blocks, experimental results are reported in standard 0.35-m CMOS technology for a 50 m 100 m active pixel cell operating at 77 K. Based on the proposed circuits, IR imagers capable of capturing up to 256 2560 pixels at 25 fps can be implemented. Index Terms-Active pixel sensor (APS), CMOS, cryogenic, imagers, infrared (IR), low-power, photon sensors, quantum-well IR photon sensors (QWIP).

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