Markus Loose

A self-calibrating single-chip CMOS camera with logarithmic response

A high-dynamic-range CMOS image sensor consisting of nonintegrating, continuously working photoreceptors with logarithmic response is presented. The nonuniformity problem caused by the device-to-device variations is greatly reduced by an implemented analog self-calibration. After performing this calibration, the remaining fixed pattern noise amounts to 3.8% (RMS) of an intensity decade at a uniform illumination of 1 W/m/sup 2/. The sensor provides a resolution of 384/spl times/288 pixels and a dynamic range of 6 decades in the intensity region from 3 mW/m/sup 2/ to 3 kW/m/sup 2/. It contains all components required for operating as a camera-on-a-chip. The image data can be read out either via a single analog line (video standard) or via a digital interface after undergoing an analog-to-digital conversion on the chip. Additional features like automatic exposure control, averaging of adjacent pixels, and digital zoom have been implemented, making the sensor suitable for a wide field of applications.

Teledyne Imaging Sensors: infrared imaging technologies for astronomy and civil space

Teledyne Imaging Sensors develops and produces high performance infrared sensors, electronics and packaging for astronomy and civil space. These IR sensors are hybrid CMOS arrays, with HgCdTe used for light detection and a silicon integrated circuit for signal readout. Teledyne manufactures IR sensors in a variety of sizes and formats. Currently, the most advanced sensors are based on the Hawaii-2RG (H2RG), 2K×2K array with 18 μm pixel pitch. The HgCdTe detector achieves very low dark current (<0.01 e-/pixel/sec) and high quantum efficiency (80-90%) over a wide bandpass. Substrate-removed HgCdTe can simultaneously detect visible and infrared light, enabling spectrographs to use a single focal plane array (FPA) for Visible-IR sensitivity. The SIDECARTM ASIC provides focal plane electronics on a chip, operating in cryogenic environments with very low power (<11 mW). The H2RG and SIDECARTM have been qualified to NASA Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL-6). Teledyne continues to advance the state-of-the-art and is producing a high speed, low noise array designed for IR wavefront sensing. Teledyne is also developing a 4K×4K, 15 µm pixel infrared array that will be a cost effective module for the large focal planes of the Extremely Large Telescopes and future generation space astronomy missions.

HAWAII-2RG: a 2k x 2k CMOS multiplexer for low and high background astronomy applications

The HAWAII-2RG is a major upgrade of our prior 2048 x 2048 CMOS readout for astronomy (HAWAII-2) to support the requirements of the Next Generation Space Telescope and enable breakthrough capability for ground-based astronomy. By migrating to 0.25μm CMOS, for the first time guide mode readout is simultaneously supported in combination with various programmable science modes on a frame-by-frame basis. Consequently, the readout simultaneously supports programmable guide mode window and full-field science using the rest of the 4.2 million pixels at read noise <5 e-. Also for the first time with any imaging sensor, low and high background astronomy is supported using from 1 to 32 low-noise outputs via low-speed and high-speed signal paths. The latter supports throughput rate of up 320 MHz for real time imaging at >60 Hz. As with the HAWAII-2, the readout can be mated to our infrared and visible detector arrays including low dark current MBE HgCdTe at cutoff wavelengths from 1.5μm to 14μm, 2.5μm PACE HgCdTe, and silicon p-i-n detectors with superior quantum efficiency to backside-illuminated CCDs.

Detectors for the James Webb Space Telescope Near‐Infrared Spectrograph. I. Readout Mode, Noise Model, and Calibration Considerations

We describe how the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Near-Infrared Spectrographs (NIRSpec) detectors will be read out, and present a model of how noise scales with the number of multiple nondestructive reads sampling up the ramp. We believe that this noise model, which is validated using real and simulated test data, is applicable to most astronomical near-infrared instruments. We describe some nonideal behaviors that have been observed in engineering-grade NIRSpec detectors, and demonstrate that they are unlikely to affect NIRSpec sensitivity, operations, or calibration. These include a HAWAII-2RG reset anomaly and random telegraph noise (RTN). Using real test data, we show that the reset anomaly is (1) very nearly noiseless and (2) can be easily calibrated out. Likewise, we show that large-amplitude RTN affects only a small and fixed population of pixels. It can therefore be tracked using standard pixel operability maps.

CMOS image sensor with logarithmic response and self calibrating fixed pattern noise correction

Optical CMOS sensor arrays have to cope with the problem of mismatch between individual pixels. This paper describes a CMOS camera chip with logarithmic response that has an automatic analog fixed pattern noise correction on chip. It was fabricated in an 0.8 micron process and consists of 64 X 64 active pixels. The photoreceptors show a measured response of about 100 mV per decade in light intensity and a dynamic range of more than 6 decades. Each pixel includes a capacitor to store the offset correction voltage. After applying the calibration procedure the remaining fixed pattern noise of one column has a standard deviation of 2 mV corresponding to 2 percent of a decade. The result is a system with significantly reduced pixel to pixel variations in comparison to similar uncalibrated photoreceptor arrays.

Performance and Calibration of H2RG Detectors and SIDECAR ASICs for the RATIR Camera

The Reionization And Transients Infra-Red camera has been built for rapid Gamma-Ray Burst followup and will provide simultaneous optical and infrared photometric capabilities. The infrared portion of this camera incorporates two Teledyne HgCdTe HAWAII-2RG detectors, controlled by Teledyne’s SIDECAR ASICs. While other ground-based systems have used the SIDECAR before, this system also utilizes Teledyne’s JADE2 interface card and IDE development environment. Together, this setup comprises Teledyne’s Development Kit, which is a bundled solution that can be efficiently integrated into future ground-based systems. In this presentation, we characterize the system’s read noise, dark current, and conversion gain.

A Scalable Switched Capacitor Realization of the Resistive Fuse Network

In artificial vision systems edge detection combined with noise suppression is a commonly used first step. A known solution for this task is the resistive fuse algorithm. This paper presents a novel mixed signal implementation that combines the advantages of analog computing, i.e., low power consumption and small area usage, with scalability and limited programmability usually found in digital designs only. The presented prototype shows that massively parallel, analog image processing can be realized in a submicron, single-poly CMOS process without relying much on transistor properties. This makes design reuse of analog processing blocks feasible.

Reducing the read noise of H2RG detector arrays: eliminating correlated noise with efficient use of reference signals

We present a process for characterizing the correlation properties of the noise in large two-dimensional detector arrays, and describe an efficient process for its removal. In the case of the 2k × 2k HAWAII-2RG detectors (H2RG) detectors from Teledyne which are being used on the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we find that we can reduce the read noise by thirty percent. Noise on large spatial scales is dramatically reduced. With this relatively simple process, we provide a performance improvement that is equivalent to a significant increase in telescope collecting area for high resolution spectroscopy with NIRSpec.

Detector arrays for the James Webb Space Telescope near-infrared spectrograph

The James Webb Space Telescopes (JWST) Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) incorporates two 5 μm cutoff (λco =5 μm) 2048×2048 pixel Teledyne HgCdTe HAWAII-2RG sensor chip assemblies. These detector arrays, and the two Teledyne SIDECAR application specific integrated circuits that control them, are operated in space at T ~ 37 K. In this article, we provide a brief introduction to NIRSpec, its detector subsystem (DS), detector readout in the space radiation environment, and present a snapshot of the developmental status of the NIRSpec DS as integration and testing of the engineering test unit begins.

Large-area visible arrays: performance of hybrid and monolithic alternatives

CMOS-based imaging system-on-chip (i-SoC) technology is successfully producing large monolithic and hybrid FPAs that are superior in many respects to competing CCD-based imaging sensors. The hybrid approach produces visible 2048 by 2048 FPAs with <6 e- read noise and quantum efficiency above 80% from 400 nm to 920 nm; 4096 by 4096 mosaics are now being developed. The monolithic approach produces visible 12-bit imaging system-on-chips such as a 1936 by 1088 with higher quantum efficiency than mainstream CCDs, <25 e- read noise, <0.02% fixed pattern noise, automatic identification and replacement of defective pixels, black-level clamping, total power dissipation of only 180 mW, and various programmable features. Several successors having ≥12 Mpixels are in development. In both cases low-light-level performance is boosted by coupling the sensors to image intensifiers.