Silicon Optoelectronic Device With Pulse Encoding Capability for Biomimetic Vision

In biological vision, sensors transform external light stimuli into impulse signals, ultimately resulting in color vision within the brain. Visual systems based on neuromorphic perceptual architectures can accurately mimic the basic functions of the human eye. However, the design of biomimetic sensors with both color selectivity and pulse encoding capabilities remains challenging. In this article, we present silicon bionic vision device (SBVD) fabricated on a commercial bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process. It can generate a specific pulse excitation frequency based on a specific input light wavelength. Experimental results demonstrate that the pulse frequency produced by the SBVD is strongly influenced by the device’s bias voltage, the wavelength of the incident light, and the optical power. In this study, we employ green, red, and two mixed colors as pseudo-colors for generating a color digital image. The wavelength selectivity of the SBVD was employed to accomplish the color digital image recognition task, achieving an accuracy of 91.4%. The results demonstrate that the SBVD exhibits biologically plausible visual perception capabilities and is fully compatible with standard microelectronic processes. This compatibility is anticipated to offer a benchmark solution for designing bionic vision systems suitable for large-scale integration.