Time-delay integration readout with adjacent pixel signal transfer for CMOS image sensor

Abstract

This paper presents a time delay and integration (TDI) structure for CMOS image sensor (CIS) with adjacent pixel signal transfer (APST). The CCD-like TDI function is achieved in CIS by proposed APST without additional in-pixel device and minimum routing effort. The in-pixel integrated signal is transferred to adjacent pixel and summed up by an off-pixel column-shared unity-gain buffer. A 1286 pixel array with 66m 2 pixel size has been designed and fabricated in TSMC0.18m 1P6M CIS technology providing 6 TDI stages with fill factor of 23.1%. It achieves a signal to noise ratio (SNR) improvement of 13dB, a transfer efficiency of 99.6%, and a total power dissipation of 4.43 W per column at 1.6K fps. © 2012 IEEE.