A low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode and dual-CDS column-parallel single-slope ADC

Wenjing Xu; Jie Chen; Zhangqu Kuang; Li Zhou; Ming Chen; Chengbin Zhang

doi:10.1088/1674-4926/43/8/082401

J. Semicond. > 2022, Volume 43 > Issue 8 > 082401, doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/8/082401

ARTICLES

A low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode and dual-CDS column-parallel single-slope ADC

Wenjing Xu^{1, 2}, Jie Chen^1,, Zhangqu Kuang³, Li Zhou¹, Ming Chen¹ and Chengbin Zhang¹

+ Author Affiliations

Corresponding author: Jie Chen, jchen@ime.ac.cn

Abstract: This paper presents a low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor (CIS) using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode (4T-PPD) and dual correlated double sampling (dual-CDS) column-parallel single-slope ADC. A five-finger shaped pixel layer is proposed to solve image lag caused by low-voltage 4T-PPD. Dual-CDS is used to reduce random noise and the nonuniformity between columns. Dual-mode counting method is proposed to improve circuit robustness. A prototype sensor was fabricated using a 0.11 µm CMOS process. Measurement results show that the lag of the five-finger shaped pixel is reduced by 80% compared with the conventional rectangular pixel, the chip power consumption is only 36 mW, the dynamic range is 67.3 dB, the random noise is only 1.55 e^–_rms, and the figure-of-merit is only 1.98 e^–·nJ, thus realizing low-power and high-quality imaging.

Key words: CMOS image sensor, 4T pinned photodiode, single-slope ADC, correlated double sample, counting method

References

[1]	Park I, Jo W, Park C, et al. A 640 × 640 fully dynamic CMOS image sensor for always-on operation. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2020, 55, 898 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2019.2959486
[2]	Hsu T H, Chen Y R, Liu R S, et al. A 0.5-V real-time computational CMOS image sensor with programmable kernel for feature extraction. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2021, 56, 1588 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2020.3034192
[3]	Hanson S, Foo Z, Blaauw D, et al. A 0.5 V sub-microwatt CMOS image sensor with pulse-width modulation read-out. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2010, 45, 759 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2010.2040231
[4]	Couniot N, de Streel G, Botman F, et al. A 65 nm 0.5 V DPS CMOS image sensor with 17 pJ/Frame. Pixel and 42 dB dynamic range for ultra-low-power SoCs. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2015, 50, 2419 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2015.2457897
[5]	Cho K B, Krymski A I, Fossum E R. A 1.5-V 550-μW 176 × 144 autonomous CMOS active pixel image sensor. IEEE Trans Electron Devices, 2003, 50, 96 doi: 10.1109/TED.2002.806475
[6]	Choi J, Shin J, Kang D W, et al. Always-on CMOS image sensor for mobile and wearable devices. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2016, 51, 130 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2015.2470526
[7]	Nitta Y, Muramatsu Y, Amano K, et al. High-speed digital double sampling with analog CDS on column parallel ADC architecture for low-noise active pixel sensor. 2006 IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference, 2006, 2024
[8]	Liu Q Y, Edward A, Kinyua M, et al. A low-power digitizer for back-illuminated 3-D-stacked CMOS image sensor readout with passing window and double auto-zeroing techniques. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2017, 52, 1591 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2017.2661843
[9]	Park I, Park C, Cheon J, et al. A 76mW 500fps VGA CMOS image sensor with time-stretched single-slope ADCs achieving 1.95e- random noise. 2019 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2019, 100
[10]	Kim H J. 11-bit column-parallel single-slope ADC with first-step half-reference ramping scheme for high-speed CMOS image sensors. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2021, 56, 2132 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2021.3059909
[11]	Shin B, Park S, Shin H. The effect of photodiode shape on charge transfer in CMOS image sensors. Solid State Electron, 2010, 54, 1416 doi: 10.1016/j.sse.2010.06.006
[12]	Xu Y, Theuwissen A J. Image lag analysis and photodiode shape optimization of 4T CMOS pixels. International Image Sensor Workshop, 2013
[13]	Cao X Z, Gäbler D, Lee C, et al. Design and optimization of large 4T pixel. International Image Sensor Workshop, 2015
[14]	Acerbi F, Garcia M M, Köklü G, et al. Transfer-gate region optimization and pinned-photodiode shaping for high-speed ToF applications. International Image Sensor Workshop, 2017
[15]	Millar T C, Sarhangnejad N, Katic N, et al. The effect of pinned photodiode shape on time-of-flight demodulation contrast. IEEE Trans Electron Devices, 2017, 64, 2244 doi: 10.1109/TED.2017.2677201
[16]	Kawahito S. Column-parallel ADCs for CMOS image sensors and their FoM-based evaluations. IEICE Trans Electron, 2018, E101.C, 444 doi: 10.1587/transele.E101.C.444
[17]	Nie K M, Zha W B, Shi X L, et al. A single slope ADC with row-wise noise reduction technique for CMOS image sensor. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst I, 2020, 67, 2873 doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2020.2979321
[18]	Park H, Yu C Z, Kim H, et al. Low power CMOS image sensors using two step single slope ADC with bandwidth-limited comparators & voltage range extended ramp generator for battery-limited application. IEEE Sens J, 2020, 20, 2831 doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2019.2957043

Fig. 1. Block diagram of the overall architecture.

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Fig. 2. 4T-PPD architecture.

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Fig. 3. (Color online) PPD shape and potential profile: (a) conventional rectangle shaped, (b) proposed five-finger shaped.

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Fig. 4. Column circuit of the SS-ADC.

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Fig. 5. Timing diagram for dual correlated double sampling.

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Fig. 6. Dual-mode counting method: (a) circuit, (b) timing diagram.

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Fig. 7. Chip photograph and layout.

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Fig. 8. (a) Timing diagram for lag test. (b) Measured lag curves with different shaped PPD.

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Fig. 9. Measured photo response curves of five-finger shaped PPD with different transfer gate voltage.

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Fig. 10. Measured photon transfer curve.

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Fig. 11. Captured image from the fabricated sensor.

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Fig. 12. (a) Measured Digital codes of the 644th column without dual-mode counting. (b) Measured Digital codes of the 644th column with dual-mode counting.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

Table 1. Chip power consumption.

Parameter	Voltage (V)	Current (A)	Power consumption (mW)
Pixel and analog	1.5	10.35	15.525
Digital	1.2	16.96	20.352
I/O	1.8	0.03	0.054
Sum			35.931

DownLoad: CSV

Table 2. Comparison with other published CIS.

Parameter	This work	JSSC^[6]		TCASI^[17]	Sensor^[18]	JSSC^[4]
Process (nm)	110	110		110	90	65
Pixel pitch (µm)	2.8	5.0		6.5	5.6	4.0
Pixel type	4T PPD	4T PPD		4T PPD	4T PPD	Digital
Pixel resolution	1288 × 728	640 × 480	320 × 240	128 × 128	960 × 720	128 × 128
Frame rate (fps)	30	15	15	228	35	32
Power supply (V)	1.5/1.2	3.3/1.8	0.9	3.3/1.5	2.8/1.5	0.5
Dynamic range (dB)	67.3	69	50	68.9	66.7	42
Power consumption (mW)	36	2.28	0.0455	40	28	0.0088
Random noise (e^–_rms)	1.55	5.5	83.7	3.25*	3.73*	416
FoM (e^–·nJ)	1.98	2.72	3.31	34.8	4.32	6.98
* For fair comparison, conversion gain is assumed by 126.4 μV/e^–.

DownLoad: CSV

[1]	Park I, Jo W, Park C, et al. A 640 × 640 fully dynamic CMOS image sensor for always-on operation. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2020, 55, 898 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2019.2959486
[2]	Hsu T H, Chen Y R, Liu R S, et al. A 0.5-V real-time computational CMOS image sensor with programmable kernel for feature extraction. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2021, 56, 1588 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2020.3034192
[3]	Hanson S, Foo Z, Blaauw D, et al. A 0.5 V sub-microwatt CMOS image sensor with pulse-width modulation read-out. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2010, 45, 759 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2010.2040231
[4]	Couniot N, de Streel G, Botman F, et al. A 65 nm 0.5 V DPS CMOS image sensor with 17 pJ/Frame. Pixel and 42 dB dynamic range for ultra-low-power SoCs. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2015, 50, 2419 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2015.2457897
[5]	Cho K B, Krymski A I, Fossum E R. A 1.5-V 550-μW 176 × 144 autonomous CMOS active pixel image sensor. IEEE Trans Electron Devices, 2003, 50, 96 doi: 10.1109/TED.2002.806475
[6]	Choi J, Shin J, Kang D W, et al. Always-on CMOS image sensor for mobile and wearable devices. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2016, 51, 130 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2015.2470526
[7]	Nitta Y, Muramatsu Y, Amano K, et al. High-speed digital double sampling with analog CDS on column parallel ADC architecture for low-noise active pixel sensor. 2006 IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference, 2006, 2024
[8]	Liu Q Y, Edward A, Kinyua M, et al. A low-power digitizer for back-illuminated 3-D-stacked CMOS image sensor readout with passing window and double auto-zeroing techniques. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2017, 52, 1591 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2017.2661843
[9]	Park I, Park C, Cheon J, et al. A 76mW 500fps VGA CMOS image sensor with time-stretched single-slope ADCs achieving 1.95e- random noise. 2019 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2019, 100
[10]	Kim H J. 11-bit column-parallel single-slope ADC with first-step half-reference ramping scheme for high-speed CMOS image sensors. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2021, 56, 2132 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2021.3059909
[11]	Shin B, Park S, Shin H. The effect of photodiode shape on charge transfer in CMOS image sensors. Solid State Electron, 2010, 54, 1416 doi: 10.1016/j.sse.2010.06.006
[12]	Xu Y, Theuwissen A J. Image lag analysis and photodiode shape optimization of 4T CMOS pixels. International Image Sensor Workshop, 2013
[13]	Cao X Z, Gäbler D, Lee C, et al. Design and optimization of large 4T pixel. International Image Sensor Workshop, 2015
[14]	Acerbi F, Garcia M M, Köklü G, et al. Transfer-gate region optimization and pinned-photodiode shaping for high-speed ToF applications. International Image Sensor Workshop, 2017
[15]	Millar T C, Sarhangnejad N, Katic N, et al. The effect of pinned photodiode shape on time-of-flight demodulation contrast. IEEE Trans Electron Devices, 2017, 64, 2244 doi: 10.1109/TED.2017.2677201
[16]	Kawahito S. Column-parallel ADCs for CMOS image sensors and their FoM-based evaluations. IEICE Trans Electron, 2018, E101.C, 444 doi: 10.1587/transele.E101.C.444
[17]	Nie K M, Zha W B, Shi X L, et al. A single slope ADC with row-wise noise reduction technique for CMOS image sensor. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst I, 2020, 67, 2873 doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2020.2979321
[18]	Park H, Yu C Z, Kim H, et al. Low power CMOS image sensors using two step single slope ADC with bandwidth-limited comparators & voltage range extended ramp generator for battery-limited application. IEEE Sens J, 2020, 20, 2831 doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2019.2957043

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Received: 09 November 2021 Revised: 16 February 2022 Online: Accepted Manuscript: 13 May 2022Uncorrected proof: 19 May 2022Published: 01 August 2022

Article Navigation > Journal of Semiconductors > 2022 > 43(8): 082401

Wenjing Xu, Jie Chen, Zhangqu Kuang, Li Zhou, Ming Chen, Chengbin Zhang. A low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode and dual-CDS column-parallel single-slope ADC[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2022, 43(8): 082401. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/8/082401 W J Xu, J Chen, Z Q Kuang, L Zhou, M Chen, C B Zhang. A low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode and dual-CDS column-parallel single-slope ADC[J]. J. Semicond, 2022, 43(8): 082401. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/8/082401Export: BibTex EndNote

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W J Xu, J Chen, Z Q Kuang, L Zhou, M Chen, C B Zhang. A low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode and dual-CDS column-parallel single-slope ADC[J]. J. Semicond, 2022, 43(8): 082401. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/8/082401

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A low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode and dual-CDS column-parallel single-slope ADC

doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/43/8/082401

1.
Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
2.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
3.
Will Semiconductor Co. Ltd., Shanghai 201210, China

More Information

Author Bio:
Wenjing Xu received her B.E. and M.E. from Tianjin University, China, in 2010 and 2013, respectively. She is currently working towards a PhD at the Institute of Microelectronics of Chinese Academy of Science. Her research interests are CMOS image sensors and analog circuit design

Jie Chen received his B.E. degree from the Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China in 1986, and the M.E. and PhD degrees from the University of Electro-Communications (UEC), Tokyo, Japan in 1991 and 1994, respectively. In 2001, he was selected as a scientist of ‘‘100 Talents Program’’ by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He is now a Director Professor of the Institute of Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing Microelectronics, CAS and a Professor of the Graduate School of CAS. His current research interests include SOC design for software-defined-radio (SDR), digital communications (CDMA and OFDM) and data compression
Corresponding author: jchen@ime.ac.cn
Received Date: 2021-11-09
Revised Date: 2022-02-16

Available Online: 2022-05-13

Abstract

Abstract

This paper presents a low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor (CIS) using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode (4T-PPD) and dual correlated double sampling (dual-CDS) column-parallel single-slope ADC. A five-finger shaped pixel layer is proposed to solve image lag caused by low-voltage 4T-PPD. Dual-CDS is used to reduce random noise and the nonuniformity between columns. Dual-mode counting method is proposed to improve circuit robustness. A prototype sensor was fabricated using a 0.11 µm CMOS process. Measurement results show that the lag of the five-finger shaped pixel is reduced by 80% compared with the conventional rectangular pixel, the chip power consumption is only 36 mW, the dynamic range is 67.3 dB, the random noise is only 1.55 e^–_rms, and the figure-of-merit is only 1.98 e^–·nJ, thus realizing low-power and high-quality imaging.
- CMOS image sensor,
- 4T pinned photodiode,
- single-slope ADC,
- correlated double sample,
- counting method

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References(18)

References

[1]	Park I, Jo W, Park C, et al. A 640 × 640 fully dynamic CMOS image sensor for always-on operation. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2020, 55, 898 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2019.2959486
[2]	Hsu T H, Chen Y R, Liu R S, et al. A 0.5-V real-time computational CMOS image sensor with programmable kernel for feature extraction. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2021, 56, 1588 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2020.3034192
[3]	Hanson S, Foo Z, Blaauw D, et al. A 0.5 V sub-microwatt CMOS image sensor with pulse-width modulation read-out. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2010, 45, 759 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2010.2040231
[4]	Couniot N, de Streel G, Botman F, et al. A 65 nm 0.5 V DPS CMOS image sensor with 17 pJ/Frame. Pixel and 42 dB dynamic range for ultra-low-power SoCs. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2015, 50, 2419 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2015.2457897
[5]	Cho K B, Krymski A I, Fossum E R. A 1.5-V 550-μW 176 × 144 autonomous CMOS active pixel image sensor. IEEE Trans Electron Devices, 2003, 50, 96 doi: 10.1109/TED.2002.806475
[6]	Choi J, Shin J, Kang D W, et al. Always-on CMOS image sensor for mobile and wearable devices. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2016, 51, 130 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2015.2470526
[7]	Nitta Y, Muramatsu Y, Amano K, et al. High-speed digital double sampling with analog CDS on column parallel ADC architecture for low-noise active pixel sensor. 2006 IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference, 2006, 2024
[8]	Liu Q Y, Edward A, Kinyua M, et al. A low-power digitizer for back-illuminated 3-D-stacked CMOS image sensor readout with passing window and double auto-zeroing techniques. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2017, 52, 1591 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2017.2661843
[9]	Park I, Park C, Cheon J, et al. A 76mW 500fps VGA CMOS image sensor with time-stretched single-slope ADCs achieving 1.95e- random noise. 2019 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2019, 100
[10]	Kim H J. 11-bit column-parallel single-slope ADC with first-step half-reference ramping scheme for high-speed CMOS image sensors. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2021, 56, 2132 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2021.3059909
[11]	Shin B, Park S, Shin H. The effect of photodiode shape on charge transfer in CMOS image sensors. Solid State Electron, 2010, 54, 1416 doi: 10.1016/j.sse.2010.06.006
[12]	Xu Y, Theuwissen A J. Image lag analysis and photodiode shape optimization of 4T CMOS pixels. International Image Sensor Workshop, 2013
[13]	Cao X Z, Gäbler D, Lee C, et al. Design and optimization of large 4T pixel. International Image Sensor Workshop, 2015
[14]	Acerbi F, Garcia M M, Köklü G, et al. Transfer-gate region optimization and pinned-photodiode shaping for high-speed ToF applications. International Image Sensor Workshop, 2017
[15]	Millar T C, Sarhangnejad N, Katic N, et al. The effect of pinned photodiode shape on time-of-flight demodulation contrast. IEEE Trans Electron Devices, 2017, 64, 2244 doi: 10.1109/TED.2017.2677201
[16]	Kawahito S. Column-parallel ADCs for CMOS image sensors and their FoM-based evaluations. IEICE Trans Electron, 2018, E101.C, 444 doi: 10.1587/transele.E101.C.444
[17]	Nie K M, Zha W B, Shi X L, et al. A single slope ADC with row-wise noise reduction technique for CMOS image sensor. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst I, 2020, 67, 2873 doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2020.2979321
[18]	Park H, Yu C Z, Kim H, et al. Low power CMOS image sensors using two step single slope ADC with bandwidth-limited comparators & voltage range extended ramp generator for battery-limited application. IEEE Sens J, 2020, 20, 2831 doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2019.2957043

A low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode and dual-CDS column-parallel single-slope ADC

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