Pixel Variation Characteristics of a Global Shutter THz Imager and its Calibration Technique

Abstract

We have developed a Si-CMOS terahertz image sensor to address the paucity of low-cost terahertz detectors. Our imaging pixel directly connects to a VCO-based ADC and achieves pixel parallel ADC architecture for high-speed global shutter THz imaging. In this paper, we propose a digital calibration technique for offset and gain variation of each pixel using global shutter operation. The calibration technique gives reference signal to all pixels simultaneously and takes reference frames as a part of the high-speed image captures. Using this technique, we achieve offset/non-linear gain variation suppression of 85.7% compared to without correction.