Paper

An 87dB Single Exposure Dynamic Range CMOS Image Sensor with a 3.0um Triple Conversion Gain Pixel

2017 May30 – Jun2

Authors I. Takayanagi, N. Yoshimura, K. Mori, S. Tanaka, S. Matsuo, H. Abe, N. Yasuda, K. Ishikawa, S. Okura, S. Ohsawa and T. Otaka

2017 International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW)
https://www.imagesensors.org/Past%20Workshops/2017%20Workshop/2017%20Papers/R29.pdf

A 2M pixel single exposure high dynamic range image sensor utilizing a 3.0m pixel that has 3 kings of conversion gain and a dual-gain single amplifier is presented. With the pixel and the signal chain, intra-scene dynamic range of 87dB has been obtained in a single exposure operation by merging low gain readout signal and high gain readout signal. The image sensor also employs an on-chip linearization function, yielding a 16bit linear signal at 60fps. In this single exposure high dynamic range (SEHDR) approach, no SNR degradation occurs in a whole photo conversion range. Also, it can suppress artifacts from moving objects or time variant of light sources, could appear in the multiple exposure high dynamic range (MEHDR) approach.