A WIDE-RANGE, LOW-VOLTAGE ACTIVE IMAGING PIXEL APPARATUS AND METHOD OF USING THE SAME

摘要

A wide-range, low-voltage active imaging pixel circuit designed to provide an increased useable voltage to pixel's photodiode (36) and photovoltage node (34) through implementation of bootstrapping and capacitive coupling and method of using the same, comprising a reset circuit (12) having a bootstrap transistor (24) connecting a reset input (22) to a reset transistor gate (27); a bootstrap capacitor (30) connecting a bootstrap clock input (20) to a bootstrap node (32), the bootstrap node (32) connected to the reset transistor gate (27); a reset transistor (26) serially connecting the bootstrap clock input (20) to a photomeasurement circuit (14); and a readout circuit (16) in parallel with the photomeasurement circuit (14). The wide range, low voltage active imaging pixel circuit may additionally comprise a readout circuit (16) having a readout coupling capacitor (48) connected between the photovoltage node (34) of the photomeasurement circuit and a select input (46) of the readout circuit, the select input (46) being gatedly connected to the select transistor (42).