A 1.25-inch 60-frames/s 8.3-M-pixel digital-output CMOS image sensor

• Published in: IEEE journal of solid-state circuits Vol. 40; no. 11; pp. 2305 - 2314
• Main Authors: Takayanagi, I., Shirakawa, M., Mitani, K., Sugawara, M., Iversen, S., Moholt, J., Nakamura, J., Fossum, E.R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.11.2005; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Active pixel sensor; Active pixel sensors; Analog-digital conversion; Applied sciences; Cameras; Circuit properties; CMOS; CMOS image sensor; CMOS image sensors; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronics; Energy consumption; Exact sciences and technology; Format; Frames; HDTV; Image resolution; Image sensors; Imaging devices; Integrated circuits; Optical sensors; parallel architecture; Power consumption; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Sensors; Signal convertors; Streaming media; High resolution; Image resolution; Low noise circuit; High definition television; CMOS image sensors; parallel architecture; Parallel architectures; DA converter; Digital image; Implementation; Smart pixels; Image quality; Time resolution; Power consumption; AD converter; Television camera; Complementary MOS technology; Active pixel sensor; CMOS image sensor; Image sensor; Low-power electronics; HDTV
• ISSN: 0018-9200; 1558-173X
• DOI: 10.1109/JSSC.2005.857375

The ultrahigh-definition television (UDTV) camera system requires an image sensor having four times higher resolution and two times higher frame rate than the conventional HDTV systems. Also, an image sensor with a small optical format and low power consumption is required for practical UDTV camera systems. To respond to these requirements, we have developed an 8.3-M-pixel digital-output CMOS active pixel sensor (APS) for the UDTV application. It features an optical format of 1.25inch, low power consumption of less than 600 mW at dark, while reproducing a low-noise, 60-frames/s progressive scan image. The image sensor is equipped with 1920 on-chip 10-bit analog-to-digital converters and outputs digital data stream through 16 parallel output ports. Design considerations to reproduce a low-noise, high-resolution image at high frame rate of 60 fps are described. Implementation and experimental results of the 8.3-M-pixel CMOS APS are presented.