• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.45-45
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• 2003

The aim of this study was the characterization and performance validation of new prototype avalanche photodiode (APD) arrays for positron emission tomography (PET). Two different APD array prototypes (noted A and B) developed by Radiation Monitoring Device (RMD) have been investigated. Principal characteristics of the two APD array were measured and compared. In order to characterize and evaluate the APD performance, capacitance, doping concentration, quantum efficiency, gain and dark current were measured. The doping concentration that shows the impurity distribution within an APD pixel as a function of depth was derived from the relationship between capacitance and bias voltage. Quantum efficiency was measured using a mercury vapor light source and a monochromator used to select a wavelength within the range of 300 to 700 nm. Quantum efficiency measurements were done at 500 V, for which the APD gain is equal to one. For the gain measurements, a pencil beam with 450 nm in wavelength was illuminating the center of each pixel. The APD dark currents were measured as a function of gain and bias. A linear fitting method was used to determine the value of surface and bulk leakage currents. Mean quantum efficiencies measured at 400 and 450 nm were 0.41 and 0.54, for array A, and 0.50 and 0.65 for array B. Mean gain at a bias voltage of 1700 V, was 617.6 for array A and 515.7 for type B. The values based on linear fitting were 0.08${\pm}$0.02 nA 38.40${\pm}$6.26 nA, 0.08${\pm}$0.0l nA 36.87${\pm}$5.19 nA, and 0.05${\pm}$0.00 nA, 21.80${\pm}$1.30 nA in bulk surface leakage current for array A and B respectively. Results of characterization demonstrate the importance of performance measurement validating the capability of APD array as the detector for PET imaging.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.2664-2669
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• 2011

We proposed a new method to improve the resolution of far object image in curving effective integral imaging system. Basically, the curving effective integral imaging(CEII) system can improve the resolution of the reconstructed images with an increased sampling rate of elemental images. However, in the case when an object located far from the lenslet array is picked up, the low resolution of the reconstructed images of the far object has been a primary problem because the sampling rate is very low. In order to solve this drawback, by using the direct pixel mapping(DPM) method the EIA picked up from a far object is transformed into a new EIA that virtually looks like the EIA picked up from the object originally located close to the lenslet array. From this new EIA, highly resolution-enhanced images of far object could be reconstructed in the CEII system. To show the feasibility of the proposed method, simulation results are compared with the conventional method.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2010

A new readout circuit involving a pixel-level reset control was studied for 2-D long wavelength infrared focal plane arrays. The integration time of each pixel can be optimized individually and automatically. Hence, the readout circuit has a wide dynamic range and good signal-to-noise ratio characteristics. The readout circuit was fabricated with a $0.35{\mu}m$ 2-poly 4-metal CMOS process for a $128{\times}128$ long wavelength infrared HgCdTe array with a pixel size of $50{\mu}m{\times}50{\mu}m$. The smart reset control with two-step background suppression improves the signal-to-noise ratio to 87dB and the dynamic range to 95.8dB.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.419-431
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• 2000

In this paper, a new beamforming technique is proposed, which can completely eliminate all the artifacts caused by digital scan converter. In the proposed method, named display-pixel-based focusing(DPBF) by the authors, ultrasound waves are focused directly at the display pixels instead of sampling points on the polar coordinate. Consequently. the DPBF system does not require the digital scan converter. To verify the proposed method, we modified a commercial scanner and performed experiments with a 3.5 MHz convex array and a 7.5 MHz linear array. We also defined and measured ICRA/B(Image Coarseness Ratio) to compare the image quality quantitatively. The experimental results with in vivo and in vitro data show that the proposed method improves the ICRA/B considerably, resulting in much smoother and finer images.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.37 no.2A
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• pp.128-134
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to enhance the recognition performance of a far and partially occluded three-dimensional (3-D) target in computational curving-effective integral imaging (CEII) by using the direct pixel-mapping (DPM) method. With this scheme, the elemental image array (EIA) originally picked up from a far and partially occluded 3-D target can be converted into a new EIA just like the one virtually picked up from a target located close to the lenslet array. Due to this characteristic of DPM, resolution and quality of the reconstructed target image can be highly enhanced, which results in a significant improvement of recognition performance of a far 3-D object. Experimental results reveal that image quality of the reconstructed target image and object recognition performance of the proposed system have been improved by 1.75 dB and 4.56% on the average in PSNR (peak-to-peak signal-to-noise ratio) and NCC (normalized correlation coefficient), respectively, compared to the conventional system.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.7-13
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• 2002

BSCT 320${\times}$240 IRFPA detector module is implemented, which is a key component in uncooled thermal imaging systems. The detector module consists of two parts, infrared sensitive pixel array and read-out integrated circuit(ROIC). The BSCT 320${\times}$240 pixels are made by laser scribe process and 10-${\mu}m$ micro-bump to satisfy 50-${\mu}m$ pitch and 95-% fill-factor. The ROIC has been designed to electrically address the pixels sequentailly and to improve signal-to-noise ratio with single transistor amplifier, HPF, tunable LPF and clamp circuit. The fabricated hybrid chip of detector and ROIC has been mounted on the TEC built-in ceramic package for more stable operation and tested for lots of electrical and optical properties. The IRFA sample has shown successful properties and met with good results of fill-factor, detectivity and responsivity.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2001

We considered the uniformity of fabricated micromirror arrays by characterizing the fabrication process and calculating the appropriate driving voltages of micromirrors used as virtual photomask in maskless photolithography. The uniformity of the micromirror array in terms of driving voltage and optical characteristics is adversely affected by factors, such as the air gap between the bottom electrode and the mirror plate, the spring shape and the deformation of the mirror plate or torsion spring. The thickness deviation of the photoresist sacrificial layer, the misalignment between mirror plate and bottom electrode, the aluminum deposition condition used to produce the spring and the mirror plate, and initial mirror deflection were identified as key factors. Their importance lies in the fact that they are related to air gap deviations under the mirror plate, asymmetric driving voltages in left and right mirror directions, and the deformation of the Al sring or mirror plate after removal of the sacrificial layer. The plasma ashing conditions used for removing the sacrificial layer also contributed to the deformation of the mirror plate and spring. Driving voltages were calculated for the pixel operation of the micromirror array, and the non-uniform characteristics of fabricated micromirrors were taken into consideration to improve driving performance reliability.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.742-748
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• 2009

Most commercial digital still cameras use a single sensor array (e.g., CMOS or CCD) with color filter array (CFA) to reduce the cost and size. Since the image obtained with CFA has only one color value per pixel, the demosaicing is needed to acquire missing two color values. Although many demosaicing methods have been proposed, they still have artifacts such as rainbow and zippering artifact. In this paper, we propose the simple demosaicing algorithm using tendency of neighbor pixels with the enhanced weighting function. In the experimental results, our algorithm shows much better subjective qualities of the images than conventional demosaicing algorithm and improves objective qualities.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.149-156
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• 2013

This paper presents a hardware edge detector of image signal at pixel level of CMOS image sensor (CIS). The circuit detects edges of an image based on a bump circuit combining with the pixels. The APS converts light into electrical signals and the bump circuit compares the brightness between the target pixel and its neighbor pixels. Each column on CIS 64 by 64 pixels array shares a comparator. The comparator decides a peak level of the target pixel comparing with a reference voltage. The proposed edge detector is implemented using 0.18um CMOS technology. The circuit shows higher fill factor 34% and power dissipation by 0.9uW per pixel at 1.8V supply.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.10
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• pp.135-141
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• 2013

In this paper, we installed three high brightness red, green, and blue LED in one socket and made one pixel unit. And we also developed the full-color display board module and control unit which can express various images such as text, graphics, video image with the combination of pixel units and a number of modules. LED display driver module have a driver circuit within the combination of the RGB pixel dot on unit area. These modules of the existing form can be high priced because of implementation a fixed resolution in specific space and installation space. To overcome these shortcomings, we developed a LED driver and LED pixel modules free in array at random pitch intervals. Display board module of this paper enabled to display smoothly video image which have many data processing quantity through dragging data speed up 36 frames per second. Also there are an effect which is provided more clear image because of improving the flickering of the existing display board.