• 센서학회지
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.188-194
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• 2004

With a remarkable advance in CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor) process technology, a variety of vision sensors with signal processing circuits for complicated functions are actively being developed. Especially, as the principles of signal processing in human retina have been revealed, a series of vision chips imitating human retina have been reported. Human retina is able to detect the edge and motion of an object effectively. The edge detection among the several functions of the retina is accomplished by the cells called photoreceptor, horizontal cell and bipolar cell. We designed a CMOS vision chip by modeling cells of the retina as hardwares involved in edge and motion detection. The designed vision chip was fabricated using $0.6{\mu}m$ CMOS process and the characteristics were measured. Having reliable output characteristics, this chip can be used at the input stage for many applications, like targe tracking system, fingerprint recognition system, human-friendly robot system and etc.

• ETRI Journal
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.783-789
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• 2008

A bio-inspired vision chip for edge detection was fabricated using 0.35 ${\mu}m$ double-poly four-metal complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology. It mimics the edge detection mechanism of a biological retina. This type of vision chip offer several advantages including compact size, high speed, and dense system integration. Low resolution and relatively high power consumption are common limitations of these chips because of their complex circuit structure. We have tried to overcome these problems by rearranging and simplifying their circuits. A vision chip of $160{\times}120$ pixels has been fabricated in $5{\times}5\;mm^2$ silicon die. It shows less than 10 mW of power consumption.

• 센서학회지
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.231-240
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• 2003

고해상도의 윤곽검출 시각칩을 제작하기 위해 윤곽검출 회로의 수를 증가시킬 경우 소비전력 문제 및 회로를 탑재할 칩의 크기를 고려하지 않으면 안된다. 칩을 구성하는 단위회로의 수적 증가는 소비전력의 증가와 더불어 대면적을 요구하게 된다. 소비전력의 증가와 CMOS 생산 회사에서 제공하는 칩의 크기가 수 십 $mm^2$이라는 조건은 결국 단위회로의 수적 증가를 제한하게 된다. 따라서 본 연구에서는, 고해상도의 윤곽검출 시각칩 구현을 위한 윤곽검출 회고의 수적 증가에 따른 전력소비의 최소화 방법으로 전자스위치(electronic switch)가 내장된 윤곽검출 회로를 제안하고, 제한된 칩의 면적에 더 많은 윤곽검출 회로를 넣기 위해 시세포 역할의 광검출 회로와 윤곽검출 회로를 분리하여 구성하는 방법을 적용하였다. $128{\times}128$ 해상도를 갖는 광검출 회고가 $1{\times}128$의 윤곽검출 회고를 공유하여 동일한 칩 면적에 향상된 해상도를 갖는 칩을 설계하였다. 설계된 칩의 크기는 $4mm{\times}4mm$이고, 소비전력은 SPICE 모의실험을 통해 약 20mW가 됨을 확인하였다.

• 센서학회지
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.112-119
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• 2006

Resolution of an image sensor is very significant parameter to improve. It is hard to improve the resolution of the CMOS vision chip for edge detection based on a biological retina using a resistive network because the vision chip contains additional circuits such as a resistive network and some processing circuits comparing with general image sensors such as CMOS image sensor (CIS). In this paper, we proved the problem of low resolution by separating photo-sensing and signal processing circuits. This type of vision chips occurs a problem of low operation speed because the signal processing circuits should be commonly used in a row of the photo-sensors. The low speed problem of operation was proved by using a reset decoder. A vision chip for edge detection with $128{\times}128$ pixel array has been designed and fabricated by using $0.35{\mu}m$ 2-poly 4-metal CMOS technology. The fabricated chip was integrated with optical lens as a camera system and investigated with real image. By using this chip, we could achieved sufficient edge images for real application.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제31권4호
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• pp.292-301
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• 2010

To restore visual sensation of blind patients, we have proposed a fully implantable retinal prosthesis comprising an three dimensionally (3D) stacked retinal chip for transforming optical signal to electrical signal, a flexible cable with stimulus electrode array for stimulating retina cells, and coupling coils for power transmission. The 3D stacked retinal chip is consisted of several LSI chips such as photodetector, signal processing circuit, and stimulus current generator. They are vertically stacked and electrically connected using 3D integration technology. Our retinal prosthesis has a small size and lightweight with high resolution, therefore it could increase the patients` quality of life (QOL). For realizing the fully implantable retinal prosthesis, we developed a retinal prosthesis module comprising a retinal prosthesis chip and a flexible cable with stimulus electrode array for generating optimal stimulus current. In this study, we used a 2D retinal chip as a prototype retinal prosthesis chip. We fabricated the polymide-based flexible cable of $20{\mu}m$ thickness where 16 channels Pt stimulus electrode array was formed in the cable. Pt electrode has an impedance of $9.9k{\Omega}$ at 400Hz frequency. The retinal prosthesis chip was mounted on the flexible cable by an epoxy and electrically connected by Au wire. The retinal prosthesis chip was cappted by a silicone to pretect from corrosive environments in an eyeball. Then, the fabricated retinal prosthesis module was implanted into an eyeball of a rabbit. We successfully recorded electrically evoked potential (EEP) elicited from the rabbit brain by the current stimulation supplied from the implanted retinal prosthesis module. EEP amplitude was increased linearly with illumination intensity and irradiation time of incident light. The retinal prosthesis chip was well functioned after implanting into the eyeball of the rabbit.