Uncooled 17 μm ¼ VGA IRFPA development for compact and low power systems

Robert, P. C.; Tissot, Jean-Luc; Pochic, D.; Gravot, V.; Bonnaire, F.; Clerambault, H.; Durand, A.; Tinnes, S.

doi:10.1117/12.974823

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Dual-band QWIP implementations like [85,86] extend vision capabilities to bispectral M/LWIR vision applications. Low-cost IR imaging solutions are mostly based on monolithic VOx [87,88] or a-Si [89][90][91] microbolometers thermal approaches, and avoid any incorporation of external cooling mechanisms. Common trend is to move ROIC designs to the digital domain performing A/D conversion either at column or pixel stages.…”

Section: State-of-the-art Ir Vision Sensorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Power CMOS Digital Pixel Imagers for High-Speed Uncooled PbSe IR Applications

Margarit¹

2017

Springer Theses

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Certifiquen ResumLa present tesi doctoral descriu la recerca i el desenvolupament d'una nova tecnologia monolítica d'imatgeria infraroja de longitud d'ona mitja (MWIR), no refrigerada i de baix cost, per a usos industrials d'alta velocitat. El treball pren el relleu dels últims avenços assolits pel soci industrial NIT S.L. en el camp dels detectors MWIR de PbSe depositats en fase vapor (VPD), afegint-hi coneixement fonamental en la investigació de noves tècniques de disseny de circuits VLSI analògics i mixtes pel desenvolupament del dispositiu integrat de lectura unit al detector pixelat.Es parteix de la hipòtesi que, mitjançant l'ús de les esmentades tècniques de disseny, les tecnologies CMOS estàndard satisfan tots els requeriments operacionals del detector VPD PbSe respecte a connectivitat, fiabilitat, funcionalitat i escalabilitat per integrar de forma econòmica el dispositiu. La càmera PbSe-CMOS resultant ha de consumir molt baixa potència, operar a freqüències de kHz, exhibir bona uniformitat, i encabir els píxels actius CMOS de lectura en el pitch compacte del pla focal de la imatge, tot atenent a les particulars característiques del detector: altes relacions de corrent d'obscuritat a senyal, elevats valors de capacitat paràsita a l'entrada i dispersions importants en el procés de fabricació.Amb la finalitat de complir amb els requisits previs, es proposen arquitectures de sensors de visió de molt baix acoblament interpíxel basades en l'ús d'una matriu de pla focal (FPA) de píxels actius exclusivament digitals. Cada píxel sensor digital (DPS) està equipat amb mòduls de comunicació d'alta velocitat, autopolarització, cancel·lació de l'offset, conversió analògica-digital (ADC) i correcció del soroll de patró fixe (FPN). El consum en cada cel·la es minimitza fent un ús exhaustiu del MOSFET operant en subllindar.L'objectiu últim és potenciar la integració de les tecnologies de sensat d'imatge infraroja (IR) basades en PbSe per expandir-ne el seu ús, no només a diferents escenaris, sinó també en diferents estadis de maduresa de la integració PbSe-CMOS. En aquest sentit, es proposa investigar un conjunt complet de blocs funcionals distribuïts en dos enfocs paral·lels: viii• Dispositius d'imatgeria MWIR "Smart" basats en frames utilitzant noves topologies de circuit DPS amb correcció de l'FPN en guany i offset. Aquesta línia de recerca exprimeix el pitch del detector per oferir una programabilitat completament digital a nivell de píxel i plena funcionalitat amb compensació de la capacitat paràsita d'entrada i memòria interna de fotograma.• Dispositius de visió MWIR "Compact"-pitch "frame-free" en base a un novedós esquema d'integració analògica en el DPS i diferenciació temporal configurable, combinats amb protocols de comunicació asíncrons dins del pla focal. Aquesta estratègia es concep per permetre una alta compactació del pitch i un increment de la velocitat de lectura, mitjançant la supressió del filtrat digital intern i l'assignació dinàmica de l'ample de banda a cada píxel de l'FPA. Aquest treball ha cond...

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Section: State-of-the-art Ir Vision Sensorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Power CMOS Digital Pixel Imagers for High-Speed Uncooled PbSe IR Applications

Margarit¹

2017

Springer Theses

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“…4(b). Considering CTIA reset times, the closed-loop operation of the previous circuitry generates a spiking signal of frequency (6) which corresponds to a digital inter-frame counted word of value (7) Fig. 6 draws the detailed schematic employed for pulse-density modulation.…”

Section: Fully Fpn-compensated Dps-based Read-out Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the one hand, microbolometers [5] are the common choice for thermal imaging in the long-wavelength IR (LWIR) range, showing very low-cost figures thanks to their CMOS technology compatibility and uncooled operation. Although pixel pitch is being steadily improved [6], [7], microbolometers intrinsically suffer from limited signal sensitivity and frame rate (below 100 fps). On the other hand, quantum-well IR photodetectors (QWIP) [8] can cover those fields demanding both high speed and high sensitivity, typically in the short-wavelength IR (SWIR) range, at the expense of higher costs and power consumption due to their hybrid packaging and cryogenic cooling, respectively.…”

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A 2 kfps Sub-µW/Pix Uncooled-PbSe Digital Imager With 10 Bit DR Adjustment and FPN Correction for High-Speed and Low-Cost MWIR Applications

Margarit

Vergara

Villamayor

et al. 2015

IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits

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Mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) thermography is an emerging technology with promising applications such as industrial monitoring, medicine and automotive, but its use in highspeed cameras is not yet widespread due to the lack of inexpensive sensor integration solutions and their common reliance on bulky cooling mechanisms. This work fills the gap by presenting a monolithic uncooled high-speed imager based on vapor-phase deposition lead selenide (VPD PbSe) photoconductors and a fully digital and configurable CMOS read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) to operate the MWIR imager. This ROIC features cancellation of PbSe dark current, compensation of its output capacitance and correction of the fixed pattern noise (FPN) caused by process non-uniformities in CMOS fabrication and detector deposition. The low-cost 80 × 80 imager has been integrated using 0.35 µm 2P4M standard CMOS technology and PbSe detector post-processing with 135 µm pixel pitch and 68% fill factor values. Experimental optoelectrical performance exhibits 10 bit real-time FPN compensation and DR calibration over the entire focal plane operating at 2 kfps, sub-0.5 LSB inter-pixel crosstalk, sub-µW pixel power consumption, and an overall figure of merit of 55 mK × ms.Index Terms-CMOS, digital pixel sensor (DPS), fixed pattern noise (FPN), high speed, imager, infrared, low cost, low power, MWIR, PbSe, uncooled.

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“…Introduction: Uncooled VOx-based microbolometer infrared imager is being widely used in low-cost and high-volume applications such as automotive for night vision and pedestrian detection. To obtain good noise performance and stable output level over a wide substrate temperature range without thermo-electrical cooler (TEC) equipment which consumes a lot power, various readout architectures have been proposed [1][2][3].…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The dummy or reference branch generates a compensating current for substrate temperature and the mirror circuit provides bias voltages. Output current signal is usually amplified with a gain-adjustable capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) [1][2][3][4]. In [3], a pre-amplifier is used for gain compensation before CTIA.…”

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confidence: 99%

Low‐noise readout circuit for thermo‐electrical cooler‐less uncooled microbolometer infrared imager

Liu

Lei

et al. 2016

Electronics Letters

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A low-noise analogue frontend readout circuit is presented for VOx microbolometer infrared imager without thermo-electrical cooler. A modified differential mirror structure with substrate temperature and self-heating effect compensation ability is used, targeting below 40 mK noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) with 17 μm pixel pitch. Noise characteristics are investigated to give an optimal trade-off approach to reach lower NETD at same power consumption compared with traditional readout structures.

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Uncooled 17 μm ¼ VGA IRFPA development for compact and low power systems

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Low-Power CMOS Digital Pixel Imagers for High-Speed Uncooled PbSe IR Applications

Low-Power CMOS Digital Pixel Imagers for High-Speed Uncooled PbSe IR Applications

A 2 kfps Sub-µW/Pix Uncooled-PbSe Digital Imager With 10 Bit DR Adjustment and FPN Correction for High-Speed and Low-Cost MWIR Applications

Low‐noise readout circuit for thermo‐electrical cooler‐less uncooled microbolometer infrared imager

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