METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TESTING IMAGE DETECTION CIRCUIT ARRAY

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and apparatus for testing an image detection array such as a CMOS imager which has detection circuits arranged in rows and columns. SOLUTION: A reset voltage is applied to the photosensitive device in each of the sensor circuits such that at least adjacent circuits are reset to different voltage levels. The voltage on each photosensitive device is detected and compared to an expected level to determine if and where any faults may exist in the detection circuits or lines in the array. Different reset voltages may be applied to respective detection circuits, however in one embodiment, a supply with only two voltage levels may be used. One voltage level is applied to the entire second column to provide a supply voltage to the photosensitive devices and to the entire second row to generate a reset enable signal for the photosensitive devices. The second voltage level is applied to the remaining columns and rows resulting in the setting of different reset voltage levels to adjacent detection circuits.