Abstract
This paper describes a new type of global electronic shutter pixel for CMOS image sensors. A global electronic shutter is necessary for imaging fast-moving objects without motion blur or distortion. The proposed pixel has two potential wells with pinned diode structure for two-stage charge transfer that enables a global electronic shuttering and reset noise canceling. A prototype high-speed image sensor fabricated in 0.18μm standard CMOS image sensor process consists of the proposed pixel array, 12-bit column-parallel cyclic ADC arrays and 192-channel digital outputs. The sensor achieves a good linearity at low-light intensity, demonstrating the perfect charge transfer between two pinned diodes. The input referred noise at the pixel level is measured to be 6.3e^-, which is three to four times smaller than that of conventional CMOS image sensors with global electronic shutter pixels.
