1 Alireza Mahmoodi and Dileepan Joseph University of Alberta, Canada Optimization of Delta-Sigma ADC for Column-Level Data Conversion in CMOS Image Sensors

2 Outline Problem Solution (optimized delta-sigma ADC) ADC structure in image sensors Design and optimization of ADC ADC simulation and performance evaluation Conclusion

3 Problem CMOS technology scales down More nonlinear analog circuits Lower supply voltage Smaller dynamic range Lower the achievable SNR

4 Solution (delta-sigma ADC) Unlike Nyquist rate ADCs, oversampled ADCs (delta-sigma ADC) can filter the temporal noise in array sensors, achieving higher SNR. Delta-sigma ADC is very tolerant to nonidealities of CMOS circuits. Flexibility of trading the number of bits-per-pixel, with the frame rate in delta-sigma ADC is another advantage. A few works have designed the DS-ADC for column or pixel level but with large power and area usage. Main issue of DS-ADC is power consumption and area usage which should be minimized (subject of this work).

5 ADC structure in image sensors Chip level ADC (One ADC for all of the pixels)  High spatial resolution  But, high noise, high power, fast ADC is needed, Pixel level ADC (One ADC for each pixel or group of pixels)  Low noise, low speed ADC is needed, low power  But, low spatial resolution, high FPN. Column level ADC (One ADC for each column or group of columns)  A compromise between pixel level and chip level. In this work a first-order column-level delta-sigma ADC will be designed.

6 Why first order? Main concern was minimization of power and area. Using first order structure Higher oversampling ratio is needed More KT/C noise will be filtered Smaller capacitors could be used Less sensitive to gain error of the integrator due to the capacitor mismatch Small area because of simple structure Comparing to higher order structures, low power and smaller area could be achieved

7 Modulator of first order structure The analog parts must be carefully designed because their nonidealities may limit the overall ADC performance.

8 Specifications of the modulator Mismatch is not the limiting factor. So, the minimum value for the capacitors in the integrator is determined by KTC noise. The minimum value for Capacitors were determined. Then, other parameters were designed.

9 Operational Transconductance Amplifier OTA is the most critical Component Folded-cascode OTA structure with gain boosting was used.

10 DDA-CMFB circuit. OTA needs a common-mode feedback (CMFB) circuit. (1) Switched capacitor CMFB  It has large swing and linearity.  Loads the output of the OTA, reducing its UGB and SLR.Large area is needed (2) We used a differential-difference amplifier CMFB (DDA-CMFB).  It can offer enough swing and linearity with very small area.

11 Decimator design The coefficients of the decimation filter are generated at the chip level. The decimation filter is only an accumulator at the column level which consumes 60μW power.

12 Simulation results Simulation was done for a 0.18μm CMOS process using Cadence and Simulink. SNR versus OSR based on: (a) Theoretical calculation (b) Simulink using 5000 samples (c) Simulink using 50 samples (d) Cadence (modulator) and Simulink (decimator) using 50 samples

13 Performance evaluation Figure-of-merit (FM) is defined as This workState of the art ADC Best case 0.4pJ Worst case 1.3pJ 1.51pJ

14 Conclusion The design of a first-order delta-sigma ADC for column level data conversion in an image sensor has been presented. Since the first-order modulator is not sensitive to gain error due to capacitor mismatch, minimum-size capacitors may be used to minimize the power consumption and area usage. A new structure for decimator was introduced. The proposed ADC has a low power consumption of 210 μW. Simulation results are very close to the theoretical values Presently, the design is being laid out in a 0.18μm process. Ultimately, the design will be fabricated and tested.

15 Thank you Questions?

16 Acknowledgements This work was funded thanks to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Mary Louise Imrie Award.

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18 Survey of DS-ADC in CMOS Image sensors TYPENumber of bits Frame ratePowerFrame Size Column mW100*1k Column103050mW100*100 Column (this work) mW1k*1k