A 1/1.8-inch 6.4MPixel 60 frames/s CMOS Image Sensor with Seamless Mode Change

A1/1.8-inch 6.4Mpixel 60frames/s CMOS image sensor fabricated in a 0.18μm 1P3M process is described. A zigzag-shaped 1.75T/pixel architecture and a 10b counter-type column parallel ADC enables 2.5times2.5mum² pixels. The resulting pixel has 38% fill factor, 12ke-/lux-s, and random noise of 7e-_rms. A 10b parallel LVDS interface enables data rates of up to 4.32Gb/s with 216MHz DDR. Full frame and 2X2 binning modes are interchangeable without an extra invalid frame

Compact digital cameras require high pixel-count, high imaging-performance, and low power consumption. Pixel-size miniaturization is necessary to achieve a high pixel-count in an adequate optical format. Among CMOS image sensors, transistor-sharing techniques are widely used to make small pixels have better imaging performance [1], [2], [3]. The advantages of a CMOS image sensor are low power and easy system integration. Using these advantages, high-speed CMOS image sensors with on-chip ADC are developed [4], [5]. High-speed imaging is one of the promising applications for CMOS image sensors.