公开(公告)号：US20040095488A1

公开(公告)日：2004-05-20

申请号：US10613830

申请日：2003-07-03

Applicant: SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, Inc.

Inventor： Roberto Rambaldi ,  Marco Tartagni ,  Alan H. Kramer

IPC: H04N009/64

CPC classification number: H04N5/367 ,  H04N5/374

Abstract: Disclosed is a fault tolerant CMOS image sensor that includes circuitry for identifying defective pixels and masking them during image generation. Masking may involve, in one example, replacing the output of a given pixel with an average of the output of surrounding non-faulty pixels. Thus, while image sensors may be fabricated with some number of faulty pixels, the images produced by such sensors will not have undesirable bright or dark spots. The disclosed sensor includes (a) one or more pixels (active or passive) capable of providing outputs indicative of a quantity of radiation to which each of the one or more pixels has been exposed; and (b) one or more circuit elements electrically coupled to the one or more pixels and configured to identify and correct faulty pixels in the CMOS imager. The one more pixels each include a photodiode diffusion formed in a well and a tap to power or ground also formed in the well. The disclosed sensor also identifies pixels that were initially acceptable but later became defective. The newly defective pixels so identified may then be masked to thereby increase the CMOS detector lifetime.

Abstract translation: 公开了一种容错CMOS图像传感器，其包括用于识别缺陷像素并在图像生成期间对其进行掩蔽的电路。 在一个示例中，掩蔽可以包括用周围的非故障像素的输出的平均值代替给定像素的输出。 因此，虽然图像传感器可以被制造成具有若干数量的有缺陷的像素，但由这种传感器产生的图像将不会有不期望的明亮或暗点。 所公开的传感器包括（a）能够提供指示一个或多个像素中的每一个已被暴露的辐射量的输出的一个或多个像素（有源或无源） 和（b）一个或多个电路元件，其电耦合到所述一个或多个像素并且被配置为识别和校正所述CMOS成像器中的有缺陷的像素。 每一个像素都包括在阱中形成的光电二极管扩散器和也形成在阱中的电源或接地的抽头。 所公开的传感器还识别最初可接受但后来变得有缺陷的像素。 然后可以掩蔽如此识别的新缺陷像素，从而增加CMOS检测器的寿命。