Journal of Sensor Science and Technology (센서학회지)

The Korean Sensors Society (한국센서학회)
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Block-Based Low-Power CMOS Image Sensor with a Simple Pixel Structure

  • Kim, Ju-Yeong (School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Kim, Jeongyeob (Department of Sensor and Display Engineering, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Bae, Myunghan (School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Jo, Sung-Hyun (School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Lee, Minho (School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Choi, Byoung-Soo (School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Choi, Pyung (School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Shin, Jang-Kyoo (School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University)
  • Received : 2014.02.02
  • Accepted : 2014.02.26
  • Published : 2014.03.31
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Abstract

In this paper, we propose a block-based low-power complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor (CIS) with a simple pixel structure for power efficiency. This method, which uses an additional computation circuit, makes it possible to reduce the power consumption of the pixel array. In addition, the computation circuit for a block-based CIS is very flexible for various types of pixel structures. The proposed CIS was designed and fabricated using a standard CMOS 0.18 ${\mu}m$ process, and the performance of the fabricated chip was evaluated. From a resultant image, the proposed block-based CIS can calculate a differing contrast in the block and control the operating voltage of the unit blocks. Finally, we confirmed that the power consumption in the proposed CIS with a simple pixel structure can be reduced.

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References

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