Temporal noise analysis of charge-domain sampling readout circuits for cmos image sensors

Temporal noise analysis of charge-domain sampling readout circuits for cmos image sensors

Ge, X. (TU Delft Electronic Instrumentation)
Theuwissen, A.J.P.A.M. (TU Delft Electronic Instrumentation; Harvest Imaging)

2018

This paper presents a temporal noise analysis of charge-domain sampling readout circuits for Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors. In order to address the trade-off between the low input-referred noise and high dynamic range, a Gm-cell-based pixel together with a charge-domain correlated-double sampling (CDS) technique has been proposed to provide a way to efficiently embed a tunable conversion gain along the read-out path. Such readout topology, however, operates in a non-stationery large-signal behavior, and the statistical properties of its temporal noise are a function of time. Conventional noise analysis methods for CMOS image sensors are based on steady-state signal models, and therefore cannot be readily applied for Gm-cell-based pixels. In this paper, we develop analysis models for both thermal noise and flicker noise in Gm-cell-based pixels by employing the time-domain linear analysis approach and the non-stationary noise analysis theory, which help to quantitatively evaluate the temporal noise characteristic of Gm-cell-based pixels. Both models were numerically computed in MATLAB using design parameters of a prototype chip, and compared with both simulation and experimental results. The good agreement between the theoretical and measurement results verifies the effectiveness of the proposed noise analysis models.

Charge-domain sampling
CMOS image sensor
Dynamic range
Low noise
Non-steady-state signal analysis
Pixel-level amplification

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:13645115-de69-41fa-8ed7-fa2b6ddb4049

https://doi.org/10.3390/s18030707

1424-8220

Sensors, 18 (3), 1-16

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 X. Ge, A.J.P.A.M. Theuwissen