An 80μVrms-temporal-noise 82dB-dynamic-range CMOS Image Sensor with a 13-to-19b variable-resolution column-parallel folding-integration/cyclic ADC

Low-noise CMOS image sensors (CIS) employing column-parallel amplifiers that significantly reduce temporal noise, as well as electron-multiplication CCD (EM-CCD) image sensors are becoming popular for very-low-light-level imaging. This paper presents a column-parallel ADC for CMOS imagers using a successive operation of folding-integration ADC (FI-ADC) and cyclic ADC for attaining very low noise, high gray-scale resolution and resulting wide dynamic range.