Invention Application
- Patent Title: ULTRA-HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE PIXEL ARCHITECTURE
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Application No.: US15050666Application Date: 2016-02-23
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Publication No.: US20170241835A1Publication Date: 2017-08-24
- Inventor: Hung T. Do , Alberto M. Magnani , R. Daniel McGrath
- Applicant: BAE Systems Imaging Solutions Inc.
- Main IPC: G01J1/42
- IPC: G01J1/42 ; H01L27/146

Abstract:
A pixel comprises a high-response photodiode that collects photocharge, a first transfer gate that enables the charge to be transferred off the high-response photodiode, completely emptying it onto a low-response photodiode, a second transfer gate enables the charge to be transferred off the low-response photodiode, completely emptying it onto floating diffusion, a third transfer gate for anti-blooming; the floating diffusion collects the transferred charge creating a change of voltage, a means of resetting the floating diffusion. A source-follower is modulated by the voltage on floating diffusion to control bit-line voltage and column-amplifier output. In examples, photocharge is integrated onto both the high-response photodiode and onto the low-response photodiode. The column readout circuit consists of a column amplifier that uses capacitors to set the amplifier gain, three sampling capacitors used as analog memory and for correlated double sampling, and a comparator that assists in providing the final output.
Public/Granted literature
- US09933300B2 Ultra-high dynamic range two photodiode pixel architecture Public/Granted day:2018-04-03
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