Silicon-on-Insulator-Based Single-Chip Image Sensors: Low-Voltage Scientific Imaging

A low-voltage (,3.3 V) imaging technology has been developed to enable scientific-grade imagers with low-powercomplex functions on chip. A 128 x 128 CCD imager with on-chip clocking and charge-domain analog-to-digital conversion, as well as an exploratory active pixel sensor have been demonstrated. A 640 x 960 CCD imager with optimized 12 bit charge-domain conversion and an improved active pixel sensor are presently in fabrication.