• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.465-471
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• 2023

This paper proposes a comparator structure that improves the noise and output delay of a single-slope ADC(SS-ADC) used in CMOS Image Sensor (CIS). To improve the noise and delay characteristics of the output, a comparator structure using the miller effect is designed by inserting a capacitor between the output node of the first stage and the output node of the second stage of the comparator. The proposed comparator structure improves the noise, delay of the output, and layout area by using a small capacitor. The CDS counter used in the single slop ADC is designed using a T-filp flop and bitwise inversion circuit, which improves power consumption and speed. The single-slope ADC also performs dual CDS, which combines analog correlated double sampling (CDS) and digital CDS. By performing dual CDS, image quality is improved by reducing fixed pattern noise (FPN), reset noise, and ADC error. The single-slope ADC with the proposed comparator structure is designed in a 0.18-㎛ CMOS process.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.43 no.1 s.343
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• pp.59-64
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• 2006

The slope of the ramp generator in a single slope ADC(analog-to-digital converter) suffers from process and frequency variation. This variation in ramp slope causes ADC gain variation and eventually limits the performance of the ISP(image signal processing) in a CIS(CMOS image sensor) that uses the single slope ADC. This paper proposes a ramp slope BISC(built-in-self-calibration) scheme for CIS. The CIS with proposed BISC was fabricated with a $0.35{\mu}m$ process. The measurement results show that the proposed architecture effectively calibrate the ramp slope against process and clock frequency variation. The silicon area overhead is less than $0.7\%$ of the full chip area.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.246-251
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• 2014

In this paper, a high-speed CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) based on a 10-bit two step Single Slope A/D Converter (SS-ADC) is proposed. The A/D converter is composed of both 5-bit coarse ADC and a 6-bit fine ADC, and the conversion speed is 10 times faster than that of the single-slope A/D convertor. In order to reduce the pixel noise, further, a Hybrid Correlated Double Sampling (H-CDS) is also discussed. The proposed A/D converter has been fabricated with 0.13um 1-poly 4-metal CIS process, and it has a QVGA ($320{\times}240$) resolution. The fabricated chip size is $5mm{\times}3mm$, and the power consumption is about 35 mW at 3.3 V supply voltage. The measured conversion speed is 10 us, and the frame rate is 220 frames/s.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.64-69
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• 2013

In this paper, a high-speed CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) based on a 10-bit two-step single-slope A/D converter is proposed. The A/D converter is composed of both a 5-bit coarse ADC and a 6-bit fine ADC, and the conversion speed is 10 times faster than that of the single-slope A/D converter. In order to have a small noise characteristics, further, a Digital Correlated Double Sampling(D-CDS) is also discussed. The proposed A/D converter has been fabricated with 0.13um 1-poly 4-metal CIS process, and it has a QVGA($320{\times}240$) resolution. The fabricated chip size is $5mm{\times}3mm$, and the power consumption is about 35mW at 3.3V supply voltage. The measured conversion speed is 10us, and the frame rate is 220 frames/s.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.11 no.1 s.20
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• pp.38-45
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• 2007

A new 8-bit single-slope ADC using analog RAMP generator with digitally controllable dynamic range has been proposed and simulated for column level or per-pixel CMOS image sensor application. The conversion gain of ADC can he controlled easily by using frequency divider with digitally controllable diviber ratio, coarse/fine RAMP with class-AB op-amp, resistor strings, decoder, comparator, and etc. The chip area and power consumption can be decreased by simplified analog circuits and passive components. Proposed frequency divider has been implemented and verified with 0.65um, 2-poly, 2-metal standard CMOS process. And the functional verification has been simulated and accomplished in a 0.35$\mu$m standard CMOS process.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.20-27
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• 2011

A CMOS Image Sensor(CIS) mounted on mobile appliances always needs a low power consumption because of the battery life cycle. In this paper, we propose novel power reduction techniques such as a data flip-flop circuit with leakage current elimination, a low power single slope A/D converter with a novel comparator, and etc. Based on 0.13um CMOS process, the chip satisfies QVGA resolution($320{\times}240$ pixels) whose pitch is 2.25um and whose structure is 4-Tr active pixel sensor. From the experimental results, the ADC in the middle of CIS has a 10-b resolution, the operating speed of CIS is 16 frame/s, and the power dissipation is 25mW at 3.3V(Analog)/1.8V(Digital) power supply. When we compare the proposed CIS with conventional ones, the power consumption is reduced approximately by 22% in sleep mode, 20% in operating mode.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2015

This paper proposes column-parallel three step Single Slope Analog-to-Digital Converter (SS-ADC) for high frame rate VGA CMOS Image Sensors (CISs). The proposed three step SS-ADC improves the sampling rate while maintaining the architecture of the conventional SS-ADC for high frame rate CIS. The sampling rate of the three-step ADC is increased by a factor of 39 compared with the conventional SS-ADC. The proposed three-step SS-ADC has a 12-bit resolution and 200 kS/s at 25 MHz clock frequency. The VGA CIS using three step SS-ADC has the maximum frame rate of 200 frames/s. The total power consumption is 76 mW with 3.3 V supply voltage without ramp generator buffer. A prototype chip was fabricated in a $0.13{\mu}m$ CMOS process.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.252-257
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• 2015

This paper proposes a single slope A/D converter (SSADC) that is possible to process the signal of the ultraviolet, visible and infrared rays with a single chip. And the proposed SSADC is a type of single channel ADC. In the conventional SSADC, it is possible to process the only one signal with a kind of the sensor because the speed of the operating frequency and the slope of ramp signal generated by the ramp generator are fixed. In order to improve the disadvantages, a ramp generator which has variable slope in ramp function is designed and $3{\times}1$ MUX(multiplexer) is adopted so that we can change the speed of the operating frequency and the slope of ramp signal. Therefore, the multiple signal processing of the wanted sensors can be possible. The designed circuit is layout by the $0.35-{\mu}m$ CMOS 2-poly 4-metal technology process and is checked through DRC and LVS tools.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.110-119
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• 2017

This paper describes a CMOS image sensor (CIS) with dual correlated double sampling (CDS) and column-parallel analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and its measurement method using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) integrated module. The CIS is composed of a $320{\times}240$ pixel array with $3.2{\mu}m{\times}3.2{\mu}m$ pixels and column-parallel 10-bit single-slope ADCs. It is fabricated in a $0.11-{\mu}m$ CIS process, and consumes 49.2 mW from 1.5 V and 3.3 V power supplies while operating at 6.25 MHz. The measured dynamic range is 53.72 dB, and the total and column fixed pattern noise in a dark condition are 0.10% and 0.029%. The maximum integral nonlinearity and the differential nonlinearity of the ADC are +1.15 / -1.74 LSB and +0.63 / -0.56 LSB, respectively.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.43 no.1 s.343
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• pp.65-70
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• 2006

An image sensor has limited dynamic range while the human eye has logarithmic response over wide range of light intensity. Although the sensor gain can be set high to identify details in darker area on the image, this results in saturation in brighter area. The gamma correction is essential to fit the human eye response. However, the digital gamma correction degrades image quality especially for darker area on the image due to the limited ADC resolution and the dynamic range. This Paper proposes a CMOS image sensor (CIS) with a nonlinear analog-to-digital converter (AU) which performs analog gamma correction. The CIS with the proposed nonlinear analog-to-digital conversion scheme was fabricated with a $0.35{\mu}m$ CMOS process. The analog gamma correction using the proposed nonlinear ADC CIS provides the 2.2dB peak-signal-to-noise-ratio(PSM) improved image qualify than conventional digital gamma correction. The PSNR of the image obtain from the digital gamma correction is 25.6dB while it is 27.8dB for analog gamma correction. The PSNR improvement over digital gamma correction is about $28.8\%$.