Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC (전자공학회논문지SC)

The Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers (대한전자공학회)
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A CMOS Readout Circuit for Uncooled Micro-Bolometer Arrays

비냉각 적외선 센서 어레이를 위한 CMOS 신호 검출회로

  • Published : 2003.01.01
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Abstract

This paper proposes a CMOS readout circuit for uncooled micro-bolometer arrays adopting a four-point step calibration technique. The proposed readout circuit employing an 11b analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a 7b digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and an automatic gain control circuit (AGC) extracts minute infrared (IR) signals from the large output signals of uncooled micro-bolometer arrays including DC bias currents, inter-pixel process variations, and self-heating effects. Die area and Power consumption of the ADC are minimized with merged-capacitor switching (MCS) technique adopted. The current mirror with high linearity is proposed at the output stage of the DAC to calibrate inter-pixel process variations and self-heating effects. The prototype is fabricated on a double-poly double-metal 1.2 um CMOS process and the measured power consumption is 110 ㎽ from a 4.5 V supply. The measured differential nonlinearity (DNL) and integrat nonlinearity (INL) of the 11b ADC show $\pm$0.9 LSB and $\pm$1.8 LSB, while the DNL and INL of the 7b DAC show $\pm$0.1 LSB and $\pm$0.1 LSB.

본 논문에서는 기존의 방법과는 달리 4 단계의 보정 기법을 적용하여 미세한 적외선 (infrared : IR) 신호를 검출해내는 비냉각 적외선 센서 어레이를 위한 CMOS 신호 검출회로를 제안한다. 제안하는 신호 검출회로는 11 비트의 A/D 변환기 (analog-to digital converter : ADC)와 7 비트의 D/A 변환기(digital to-analog converter : DAC), 그리고 자동 이득 조절 회로 (automatic gain control circuit : AGC)로 구성되며, 비냉각 센서 어레이를 동작시키는 DC 바이어스 전류 성분, 화소간의 특성 차이에 의한 변화 성분과 자체 발열 (self-heating)에 의한 변화 성분을 포함하는 적외선 센서 어레이의 출력 신호로부터 미세한 적외선 신호 성분만을 선택적으로 얻어낸다. 제안하는 A/D 변환기에서는 병합 캐패시터 스위칭(merged-capacitor switching : MCS) 기법을 적용하여 면적 및 전력 소모를 최소화하였으며, D/A 변환기에서는 출력단에 높은 선형성을 가지는 전류 반복기를 사용하여 화소간의 특성 차이에 의한 변화 성분과 자체 발열에 의한 변화 성분을 보정할 수 있도록 하였다. 시제품으로 제작된 신호 검출회로는 1.2 um double-poly double-metal CMOS 공정을 사용하였으며, 4.5 V 전원전압에서 110 ㎽의 전력을 소모한다. 제작된 시제품으로부터 측정된 검출회로의 differential nonlinearity (DNL)와 integral nonlinearity (INL)는 A/D 변환기의 경우 11 비트의 해상도에서 ±0.9 LSB와 ±1.8 LSB이며, D/A 변환기의 경우 7비트의 해상도에서 ±0.1 LSB와 ±0.1 LSB이다.

Keywords

References

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