Television – Camera – system and detail – Solid-state image sensor
Reexamination Certificate
2011-04-12
2011-04-12
Ye, Lin (Department: 2622)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Solid-state image sensor
C348S248000, C348S310000, C250S208100
Reexamination Certificate
active
07924332
ABSTRACT:
A voltage and current mode active pixel sensor for high resolution imaging is presented. The photo pixel is composed of a photodiode and two transistors: reset and transconductance amplifier transistor. The switch transistor is moved outside the pixel, allowing for lower pixel pitch and increased linearity of the output photocurrent. The reset and amplifier (readout) transistors may also be shared among adjacent pixels by the introduction of transfer switches between the photodiodes and the source of the reset transistor and the gate of the readout transistor. The switch transistor outside the pixels provides biasing voltages or currents to the readout transistors to selectively turn them on when readout of the corresponding photodiode is desired and turns the readout transistor off when the corresponding photodiode is not to be read out. The increased linearity of the image sensor has greatly reduced spatial variations across the image after correlated double sampling and the column fix pattern noise is greatly improved.
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Gruev Viktor
Van Der Spiegel Jan
Yang Zheng
Dagnew Mekonnen
The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
Woodcock & Washburn LLP
Ye Lin
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