Development Status of CMOS 1920 × 1080 Imaging System-on-Chip for 60p and 72p HDTV

Metadata

Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: SMPTE Mot. Imag. J
Volume: 113, No. 10-11, pp. 359–368
Abstract: High-performance charge-coupled device imagers (CCD) with 2 million pixels in 1920 × 1080 format have been commercially available for more than ten years.1 Nevertheless, today's HDTV cameras still do not simultaneously provide sufficient resolution and electronic film speed at the minimum progressive frame rates needed for creative motion imaging production. Overcranking, for example, is only available at ∼1 million pixel (1280 × 720) resolution, and the maximum frame rate of today's 1920 × 1080 progressive cameras is 30 Hz. To truly offer a compelling alternative to motion imaging film, electronic HD cameras must provide a higher progressive frame rate along with additional bit depth to maximize production quality and creativity. In this paper, the technical background for the shift in technology from CCD imaging to CMOS imaging system-on-chip is discussed. Specifically, the sensor architectures are compared, and why CCD noise consistently increases with video frequency at about 3 dB/octave is explained. We conclude by briefly reporting the development status for a complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) 1920 × 1080 image sensor for next-generation, affordable and compact HD cameras to support progressive frame rates at 60 Hz and beyond.
Publication Date: 2004-10-01
DOI: 10.5594/J16267
ISSN: Print: 1545-0279 | Electronic: 2160-2492
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/J16267
Author(s): L. Kozlowski
bio
Les Kozlowski is chief technology officer at AltaSens, Inc., a startup focused on producing highly-integrated, high-performance CMOS imaging systems-on-chip for next generation video products including HDTV. Kozlowski received B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1975 and 1977, respectively. AltaSens is a spinoff from Rockwell Scientific where Kozlowski was previously chief technologist and was honored as a Rockwell Engineer of the Year for 1995. He was principal investigator on many imaging sensor development programs that significantly advanced the state-of-the-art with respect to noise for megapixel sensors. One example is the infrared sensor in the Hubble Space Telescope, which has helped revolutionize astronomy and our understanding of the universe. Previously, as a principal scientist at Hughes Aircraft in Canoga Park, CA, he had similar responsibilities. Kozlowski's areas of expertise include compact, low-noise analog circuits, and high-density CCD and CMOS readouts for focal plane arrays. He has helped design over 100 imaging sensors, and has over 140 publications and 16 patents. He is a member of the IEEE Electron Devices Society, SMPTE, and SPIE.
G. Rossi
bio
Giuseppe Rossi is director of engineering at AltaSens, Inc. He received a degree in electronic engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and a Ph.D. in physics from Universite‘ Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France. From 1994 to 1997, Rossi was also employed at ESRF, Grenoble, France, where he worked on X-ray detectors for position and energy resolution. He later worked as a research associate at Cornell University, NY, developing the X-ray CMOS imager for time-resolved protein diffraction. In 2002, he became a design manager for Micron Imaging Mobile Application Group, where he designed sensors for large-volume production. In 2003, Rossi joined Rockwell Scientific as a senior analog designer working on multiformat CMOS imaging system-on-chip sensors for HDTV. He holds several CMOS sensor patents.
L. Blanquart
bio
Laurent Blanquart is the lead scientist at AltaSens, Inc., where he develops key analog circuit blocks. He received an M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 1989 from Institut Superieur d'Electronique du Nord (ISEN). He was employed at Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille (CPPM), France, from 1991 to 2001, working in the field of ultra low power analog integrated circuits design, mainly for pixel detectors in high-energy physics experiments. Blanquart also worked as a principal sensor designer at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he was in charge of designing the pixel tracking detector electronics for the ATLAS experiment (CERN). Here he was honored with spot recognition awards for several IC design innovations. Blanquart's technical interests and expertise include very low-power analog design, CMOS imager design, and large charged-particle pixel array design. He has authored and co-authored more than 40 papers, holds 2 patents, and has contributed to numerous international conference presentations. He has also given lectures in advanced pixel IC analog design at several research institutes and at the IEEE/NSS symposium.
R. Marchesini
bio
Roberto Marchesini is the lead engineer in imaging system-on-chip integration at AltaSens Inc. He graduated with a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Ferrara, Italy, with an emphasis in medical imaging. Marchesini has worked for several years as a senior IC design engineer at Berkeley National Lab, developing ASICs for particle pixel detector used in high-energy physics experiments. After joining the semiconductor industry, he became lead engineer in system-on-chip development and integration for wireless communication application.
Y. Huang
bio
Ying Huang received B.A.Sc and M.A.Sc degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in 2000 and 2002, respectively. Since 2002, she has worked as a CMOS image sensor design er at AltaSens, Inc. (formerly Rockwell Scientific's CMOS Image Sensor Group). Her research interests include CMOS imager design and analog/mixed signal circuit design.
G. Chow
bio
Gregory Chow is senior applications engineer at AltaSens Inc. He began his career designing CCD-based cameras for machine vision and medical imaging applications and now works solely with CMOS imaging sensors. Having diverse experience with both CCDs and CMOS imaging system-on-chip sensors, he is an expert at facilitating high-throughput computer interface via various frame grabbers. Chow graduated from the University of British Columbia, Canada, with a B.A.Sc in engineering physics, electrical option.
Copyright: © 2004 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

Experimental Ultrahigh-Definition Color Camera System with Three 8M-pixel CCDs [Active]
1. Thorpe L. Naguno F. Ishikawa K. , “A Comparison between HD Hyper-HAD CCD Camera and Color Film for Television Program Production,” SMPTE J., 103:364 , June 1994 . EXTERNAL
10. Loose M. Kozlowski L. J. Joshi A. M. Kononenko A. Xue S. Lin J. Luo J. Ovsiannikov I. Clarke J. Paredes T. , “2/3-in. CMOS Imaging Sensor for High-Definition Television,” 2001 IEEE Workshop on CMOS and CCD Imaging Sensors, June 2001 . EXTERNAL
11. Takayanagi I. Shirakawa M. Iversen S. Moholt J. Nakamura J. Fossum E. , “A 1 1/4 in. 8. 3M Pixel Digital Output CMOS APS for UDTV Application,” ISSCC 2003 . EXTERNAL
12. Kodak CMOS Image Sensors ISO Measurement , Application Note MTD/PS-0234, July 24, 2001 . EXTERNAL
13. Baer R. Holm J. , “A Model for Calculating the Potential ISO Speeds of Digital Still Cameras Based Upon CCD Characteristics,” IS&T PICS 1999 Conference Proc , pp. 35 – 38 , 1999 . EXTERNAL
2. Kozlowski L. J. Kosonocky W. E. , “Infrared Detector Arrays,” Handbook of Optics , Ch. 25, McGraw-Hill : New York , 1995 . EXTERNAL
3. Meynants G. Dierickx B. Alaerts A. Uwaerts D. Scheffer D. Noble S. , “A 35mm 13. 89 Million Pixel CMOS Active Pixel Image Sensor,” PICS 2003 . EXTERNAL
4. U. S. Patent 6493030, Dec. 10, 2002 . EXTERNAL
5. Fowler B. El Gamal A. Yang D. , “A CMOS Area Image Sensor with Pixel-Level A/D Conversion,” Solid-State Circuits Conference, 1994, Digest of Technical Papers, 41st ISSCC; 1994 IEEE International, 16–18 , pp. 226 – 227 , Feb. 1994 . EXTERNAL
6. Kleinfelder S. Lim S. Liu S. El Gamal A. , “A 10,000 Frames/s CMOS Digital Pixel Sensor,” JSSC , 36 ( 12 ), Dec. 2001 . EXTERNAL
8. Kozlowski L. J. Standley D. Luo J. Tomasini A. Gallagher A. Mann R. Hsieh B. C. Liu T. Kleinhans W. E. , “Theoretical Basis and Experimental Confirmation: Why a CMOS Imager is Superior to a CCD,” Proc. SPIE , 3698 : 388 – 396 , July 1999 . EXTERNAL
9. Kozlowski L. J. Tomasini A. Luo J. , “Performance Limits in Visible and Infrared Imager Sensors,” Electron Devices Meeting 1999 , IEDM Technical Digest International , 5–8 : 867 – 870 , Dec. 1999 . EXTERNAL

Source Data (JSON)

Full registry record with provenance metadata. Open directly: /api/doc/10.5594-J16267.json

Reference Tree

Explore all references and references to this document, as a navigable tree.

Open Reference Tree

Reference this Doc

Plain text (ISO 690 compliant)

Preview:

L. Kozlowski, G. Rossi, L. Blanquart, R. Marchesini, Y. Huang, and G. Chow; Development Status of CMOS 1920 × 1080 Imaging System-on-Chip for 60p and 72p HDTV, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 113, Issue: 10-11, 2004); SMPTE, 2004. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J16267

Snippet:

L. Kozlowski, G. Rossi, L. Blanquart, R. Marchesini, Y. Huang, and G. Chow; Development Status of CMOS 1920 × 1080 Imaging System-on-Chip for 60p and 72p HDTV, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 113, Issue: 10-11, 2004); SMPTE, 2004. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J16267

HTML (ISO 690 compliant)

Preview:

Snippet:

<span class="citation">L. Kozlowski, G. Rossi, L. Blanquart, R. Marchesini, Y. Huang, and G. Chow; <cite>Development Status of CMOS 1920 × 1080 Imaging System-on-Chip for 60p and 72p HDTV</cite>, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 113, Issue: 10-11, 2004); SMPTE, 2004. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/J16267" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/J16267</a></span>

SMPTE's HTML Pub

Preview:

Snippet:

<li>
L. Kozlowski, G. Rossi, L. Blanquart, R. Marchesini, Y. Huang, and G. Chow; <cite id="bib-10-5594-j16267">Development Status of CMOS 1920 × 1080 Imaging System-on-Chip for 60p and 72p HDTV</cite>, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 113, Issue: 10-11, 2004); SMPTE, 2004
<span class="doi">10.5594/J16267</span>
</li>