Gain-Adaptive CMOS Image Sensors

A column based gain-adaptive CMOS image sensor has been developed. The gain is set at 1 or 8 adaptively depending on the amplitude of the amplified signal, to reduce the random noise is low illumination region. Input referred random noise of 263uVrms has been achieved by this technology together with a pinned photo diode technique. This chip was presented at ISSCC 2003.

Image sensor chip	Raw image without gain correction (Top) / Raw image with gain correction(Bottom)

References

1. S. Kawahito, M.Sakakibara, D.Handoko, N. Nakamura, H. Satoh, M. Higashi, K. Mabuchi, H. Sumi, "A Column-Based Pixel-Gain-Adaptive CMOS Image Sensor for Low-Light-Level Imaging," Dig. Tech. Papers, IEEE Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf., 12.7, pp. 224-225, Feb. 2003.