• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.83-91
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• 2014

This paper presents a capacitive readout circuit for tri-axes microaccelerometer with sub-fF offset calibration capability. A charge sensitive amplifier (CSA) with correlated double sampling (CDS) and digital to equivalent capacitance converter (DECC) is proposed. The DECC is implemented using 10-bit DAC, charge transfer switches, and a charge-storing capacitor. The DECC circuit can realize the equivalent capacitance of sub-fF range with a smaller area and higher accuracy than previous offset cancelling circuit using series-connected capacitor arrays. The readout circuit and MEMS sensing element are integrated in a single package. The supply voltage and the current consumption of analog blocks are 3.3 V and $230{\mu}A$, respectively. The sensitivities of tri-axes are measured to be 3.87 mg/LSB, 3.87 mg/LSB and 3.90 mg/LSB, respectively. The offset calibration which is controlled by 10-bit DECC has a resolution of 12.4 LSB per step with high linearity. The noise levels of tri-axes are $349{\mu}g$/${\sqrt}$Hz, $341{\mu}g$/${\sqrt}$Hz and $411{\mu}g$/${\sqrt}$Hz, respectively.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.63-71
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• 2000

Infrared (IR) detector chip, which detects the IR radiation from all of the objects and converts to image signal, is usually fabricated using hybrid bonding technology with detector away and readout integrated circuit (ROIC). In this study, we designed the readout circuit and simulated its operations. Fabricating readout circuit chips, we measured operation results satisfying its design requirements in 6V supply voltage. After we mount the IR detector chip in the manufactured thermal image system, thermal images were implemented. The obtained thermal images for high and room temperature target objects are sufficiently recognizable. Using the low noise thermal Image system, we expect to obtain thermal images with higher temperature resolution.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.357-361
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• 2018

This paper presents an averaging current adjustment technique for reducing the pixel resistance variation in a bolometer-type uncooled infrared image sensor. Each unit pixel was composed of an active pixel, a reference pixel for the averaging current adjustment technique, and a calibration circuit. The reference pixel was integrated with a polysilicon resistor using a standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process, and the active pixel was applied from outside of the chip. The averaging current adjustment technique was designed by using the reference pixel. The entire circuit was implemented on a chip that was composed of a reference pixel array for the averaging current adjustment technique, a calibration circuit, and readout circuits. The proposed reference pixel array for the averaging current adjustment technique, calibration circuit, and readout circuit were designed and fabricated by a $0.35-{\mu}m$ standard CMOS process.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.59-65
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• 2004

A stable reference voltage generator is necessary to the infrared image signal readout circuit(ROIC) to improve noise characteristics of signal originated from infrared devices, that is, to gain good images. In this paper, bandgap circuit operating at cryogenic temperature of 77K for Infrared image ROIC(readout integrated circuit) was first made. It demonstrates practical use possibility through taking measurements and estimations. Bandgap circuit is a representative voltage reference circuit. Most of bandgap reference circuits which are presented so far operate at room temperature, and their characteristic are not suitable for infrared image ROIC operating at liquid nitrogen temperature, 77K. To design bandgap circuit operating at cryogenic temperature, suitable circuit is selected and the parameter characteristics of used devices as temperature change are seen by a theoretical study and fitted at liquid temperature with considering such characteristics. This circuit has been fabricated in the Hynix 0.6um standard CMOS process, and the output voltage measured shows that the stability is 1.042±0.0015V over the temperature range of 60K to 110K and is better than bandgap circuits operated at room temperature.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.270-274
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• 2011

This paper presents a parameterized simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) model of a two-level microbolometer based on negative-temperature-coefficient thin films, such as vanadium oxide or amorphous silicon. The proposed modeling begins from the electric-thermal analogy and is realized on the SPICE modeling environment. The model consists of parametric components whose parameters are material properties and physical dimensions, and can be used for the fast design study, as well as for the co-design with the readout integrated circuit. The developed model was verified by comparing the obtained results with those from finite element method simulations for three design cases. The thermal conductance and the thermal capacity, key performance parameters of a microbolometer, showed the average difference of only 4.77% and 8.65%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.423-432
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• 2023

With the increasing demand for mobile devices featuring multi-touch operation, extensive research is being conducted on touch screen panel (TSP) Readout ICs (ROICs) that should possess low power consumption, compact chip size, and immunity to external noise. Therefore, this paper discusses capacitive touch sensors and their readout circuits, and it introduces research trends in various circuit designs that are robust against external noise sources. The recent state-of-the-art TSP ROICs have primarily focused on minimizing the impact of parasitic capacitance (Cp) caused by thin panel thickness. The large Cp can be effectively compensated using an area-efficient current compensator and Current Conveyor (CC), while a display noise reduction scheme utilizing a noise-antenna (NA) electrode significantly improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Based on these achievements, it is expected that future TSP ROICs will be capable of stable operation with thinner and flexible Touch Screen Panels (TSPs).

• ETRI Journal
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.235-243
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• 2016

A low-noise readout integrated circuit (ROIC) for a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphone is presented in this paper. A positive feedback signal amplification technique is applied at the front-end of the ROIC to minimize the effect of the output buffer noise. A feedback scheme in the source follower prevents degradation of the noise performance caused by both the noise of the input reference current and the noise of the power supply. A voltage booster adopts noise filters to cut out the noise of the sensor bias voltage. The prototype ROIC achieves an input referred noise (A-weighted) of -114.2 dBV over an audio bandwidth of 20 Hz to 20 kHz with a $136{\mu}A$ current consumption. The chip is occupied with an active area of $0.35mm^2$ and a chip area of $0.54mm^2$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.89-92
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• 2010

A bolometer sensor used in an infrared thermal imaging system has many advantages on the process because it does not need a separate cooling system and its manufacturing is easy. However the sensitivity of the bolometer is low and the fixed pattern noise(FPN) is large, because the bolometer sensor is made by micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS). These problems can be fixed-by using the high performance readout integrated circuit(ROIC) with noise reduction techniques. In this paper, we propose differential delta sampling circuit to remove the mismatch noise of ROIC itself, the FPN of the bolometer. And for reduction of FPN noise, the reference signal compensation circuit which compensate the reference signal by using on-resistance of MOS transistor was proposed.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.152-159
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• 2007

This paper describes the design, fabrication, and measurement of ROIC(ReadOut Integrated Circuit) for $320{\times}256$ IRFPA(InfraRed Focal Plane Array). A ROIC plays an important role that transfer photocurrent generated in a detector device to thermal image system. Recently, the high performance and low power ROIC adding various functions is being required. According to this requirement, the design of ROIC focuses on 7MHz or more pixel rate, low power dissipation, anti-blooming, multi-channel output mode, image reversal, various windowing, and frame CDS(Correlated Double Sampling). The designed ROIC was fabricated using $0.6{\mu}m$ double-poly triple-metal Si CMOS process. ROIC function factors work normally, and the power dissipation of ROIC is 33mW and 90.5mW at 7.5MHz pixel rate in the 1-channel and 4-channel operation, respectively.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.196-200
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• 2007

In this paper, we propose and discuss the design using a simple method that reduces the fixed pattern noise(FPN) generated on the amorphous Si($\alpha-Si$) bolometer. This method is applicable to an IR image sensor. This method can also minimize the size of the reference resistor in the readout integrated circuit(ROIC) which processes the signal of an IR image sensor. By connecting four bolometer cells in parallel and averaging the resistances of the bolometer cells, the fixed pattern noise generated in the bolometer cell due to process variations is remarkably reduced. Moreover an $\alpha-Si$ bolometer cell, which is made by a MEMS process, has a large resistance value to guarantee an accurate resistance value. This makes the reference resistor be large. In the proposed cell structure, because the bolometer cells connected in parallel have a quarter of the original bolometer's resistance, a reference resistor, which is made by poly-Si in a CMOS process chip, is implemented to be the size of a quarter. We designed a ROIC with the proposed cell structure and implemented the circuit using a 0.35 um CMOS process.