Ramp Noise Projection in CMOS Image Sensor Single-Slope ADCs

Noise analysis of the ramp reference voltage and its projection at the output of a conventional single-slope ramp analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is presented. This paper gives insight on the reference voltage noise origins during the continuous-time ramping phase of column-parallel CMOS image sensor ADCs, as well as its effect on the final ADC output noise. Theoretical modeling of an occurring random walk noise on continuous-time-based ramp references is presented first. Noise on the ramp does not directly add to the output noise of the ADC, but it is modulated and projected subject to given ramp rise time conditions. Test measurements show that the signal-dependent output noise is consistent with the rate of noise increase by the proposed random walk noise model.