- Patent Title: Optical sensor and apparatus comprising an optical sensor having a readout circuit to determine an ambient light level based on voltage across a photodetector at the end of an exposure time
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Application No.: US17362548Application Date: 2021-06-29
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Publication No.: US11796386B2Publication Date: 2023-10-24
- Inventor: Jeffrey M. Raynor , Sophie Taupin , Jean-Jacques Rouger , Pascal Mellot
- Applicant: STMicroelectronics (Research and Development) Limited , STMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS
- Applicant Address: GB Marlow
- Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Research & Development) Limited,STMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS
- Current Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Research & Development) Limited,STMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS
- Current Assignee Address: GB Marlow; FR Grenoble
- Agency: CROWE & DUNLEVY
- Priority: EP 305052 2019.01.16
- Main IPC: G01J1/42
- IPC: G01J1/42 ; G01J1/44 ; H01L23/58 ; H01L27/144 ; H01L31/02

Abstract:
An optical sensor includes pixels. Each pixel has a photodetector. A readout circuit performs a process over an exposure time where the photodetector is connected to a reverse bias voltage supply to reset a voltage across the photodetector, and the photodetector is disconnected from the reverse bias voltage supply until that the voltage across the photodetector decreases in response to received ambient light. An ambient light level is then determine an based on a number of times the voltage across the photodetector is reset over the exposure time.
Public/Granted literature
- US20210325243A1 OPTICAL SENSOR AND APPARATUS COMPRISING AN OPTICAL SENSOR Public/Granted day:2021-10-21
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