• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.11
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• pp.36-43
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• 2015

A pixel-level readout circuit is studied for 2-dimensional microbolometer focal plane arrays (FPAs). A current mirroring injection (CMI) input circuit with 2-step current-mode bias suppression is proposed for a pixel-level architecture with high responsivity and long integration time. The proposed circuit has been designed using a $0.35-{\mu}m$ 2-poly 4-metal CMOS process for a $320{\times}240$ microbolometer array with a pixel size of $50{\mu}m{\times}50{\mu}m$. The proposed 2-step bias-current suppression has sufficiently low calibration error with wide calibration range, and the calibration range and error can be easily optimized by controlling some design parameters. Due to high responsivity and a long integration time of more than 1 ms, the noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of the proposed circuit can be improved to 26 mK, which is much better than that of the conventional circuits, 67 mK.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.297-305
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• 1999

Ocean Scanning Multispectral Imager (OSMI) is a payload on the KOMPSAT satellite to perform global ocean color monitoring for the study of biological oceanography. The instrument images the ocean surface using a wisk-broom motion with a swath width of 800km and a ground sample distance (GSD) of < 1km over the entire field of view (FOV). The instrument is designed to have an on-orbit operation duty cycle of 20% over the mission lifetime of 3 years with the functions of programmable gain/offset and on-board image data compression/storage. The instrument also performs sun and dark calibration for on-board instrument calibration. The OSMI instrument is a multi-spectral imager covering the spectral range from 400nm to 900nm using CCD Focal Plane Array (FPA). The ocean colors are monitored using 6 spectral channels that can be selected via ground commands. KOMPSAT satellite with OSMI was integrated and the satellite level environment tests including instrument aliveness/functional test, such as launch environment, on-orbit environment (Thermal/Vacuum) and EMI/EMC test were performed at KARl. Test results met the requirements and the OSMI data were collected and analyzed during each test phase. The instrument is launched on the KOMPSAT satellite on December 21,1999 and is scheduled to start collecting ocean color data in the early 2000 upon completion of on-orbit instrument checkout.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.10
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• pp.80-86
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• 2014

A low-noise readout circuit is studied for 2-D capacitive microbolometer focal plane arrays (FPAs). In spite of the merits of the integration method, a simple and effective pixelwise readout circuit without integration is used for input circuit because of a small pixel size and narrow noise bandwidth. To reduce the power consumption and the kT/C noise, which is the dominant noise of the capacitive microbolometer FPAs with small capacitance, a new correlated double sampling (CDS) is used for columnwise circuit. The proposed circuit has been designed using a $0.35-{\mu}m$ 2-poly 4-metal CMOS process for a microbolometer array with a pixel size of $50{\mu}m{\times}50{\mu}m$. The proposed circuit effectively reduces the kT/C noise and the other low-frequency noise of microbolometer, and the noise characteristics of the fabricated chip have been verified by measurements. The rms noise voltage of the proposed circuit is reduced from 30 % to 55 % compared to that of the simple readout input circuit, and the noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of the proposed circuit is very low value of 21.5 mK.