A 121.4-dB DR Capacitively Coupled Chopper Class-D Audio Amplifier

This article presents a class-D amplifier (CDA) with high dynamic range (DR). To eliminate the typically dominant noise contribution of a resistive feedback network, the input and feedback signals are chopped and applied to a capacitive feedback network. However, this leads to high-voltage (HV) transients at the input of the loop filter,...

Assessing daylight performance in use: A comparison between long-term daylight measurements and simulations

Climate-Based Daylight Modelling (CBDM) methods have been validated against long-term measurements in laboratory settings and found to exhibit errors small enough to make such assessments useful for daylight performance prediction. However, real occupied spaces are affected by a higher number of uncertainties than laboratory or controlled...

Adding Bloom to High-Dynamic-Range Tone Mapping

We present a technique for enhancing high-dynamic-range tone mapping algorithms by adding the bloom effect to bright areas. Bloom is based on the fact that real-life lenses convolve light and make bright areas emit a glow. The algorithm takes a set of images with different exposures as input, and performs a tone mapping algorithm on these. It...

Modeling and Analysis of a Direct Time-of-Flight Sensor Architecture for LiDAR Applications

Direct time-of-flight (DTOF) is a prominent depth sensing method in light detection and ranging (LiDAR) applications. Single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays integrated in DTOF sensors have demonstrated excellent ranging and 3D imaging capabilities, making them promising candidates for LiDARs. However, high background noise due to solar...

Temporal noise analysis of charge-domain sampling readout circuits for cmos image sensors

This paper presents a temporal noise analysis of charge-domain sampling readout circuits for Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors. In order to address the trade-off between the low input-referred noise and high dynamic range, a Gm-cell-based pixel together with a charge-domain correlated-double sampling (CDS) technique...

A 280μW dynamic-zoom ADC with 120dB DR and 118dB SNDR in 1kHz BW

Micro-power ADCs with high linearity and dynamic range (DR) are required in several applications, such as smart sensors, biomedical imaging, and portable instrumentation. Since the signals of interest are then often small (tens of μν) and slow (<1kHz BW), such ADCs should also exhibit low offset and flicker noise. Noise-shaping SAR [1] and...

A Dynamic Zoom ADC with 109-dB DR for Audio Applications

This paper presents the first dynamic zoom ADC. Intended for audio applications, it achieves 109-dB DR, 106-dB signal-to-noise ratio, and 103-dB SNDR in a 20-kHz bandwidth, while dissipating only 1.12 mW. This translates into the state-of-the-art energy efficiency as expressed by a Schreier FoM of 181.5 dB. It also achieves the state-of-the...

A 1-Mega Pixels HDR and UV Sensitive Image Sensor With Interleaved 14-bit 64Ms/s SAR ADC

This thesis presents a 1-Mega pixels high-dynamic range and UV sensitive image sensor in 0.18 µm technology with 14-bit interleaved 64Ms/s SAR ADC. It can achieve 64 fps and 101 dB dynamic range. The pixel array contains three kinds of pixel: UV pixel, visible pixel and low blue pixel. Those three kinds of pixel form a special 4×4 kernel to meet...

The Design of a Stitched, High-dynamic Range CMOS Particle Sensor

This thesis presents the design of a stitched, high-dynamic range particle sensor in 0.18 µm technology, which has three different configurations of 4096*4096 (4K), 8192*8192 (8K) and 12288*12288 (12K) pixels. It can be operated at 65 MHz with a target of 5 e- RMS noise and 92 dB dynamic range. The architecture of the whole sensor is explained...

Mixed-signal instrumentation for large-signal device characterization and modelling

This thesis concentrates on the development of advanced large-signal measurement and characterization tools to support technology development, model extraction and validation, and power amplifier (PA) designs that address the newly introduced third and fourth generation (3G and 4G) wideband communication standards. By exploiting an innovative...

Design of Front-End Receiver Electronics for 3D Trans-Esophageal Echocardiography

The motivation behind this thesis is that cardio-vascular diseases claim the highest number of lives each year globally. In order to enhance the accuracy in diagnosis, construction of 3D images of the heart is required. From these images, precise information can be obtained regarding the 3D anatomy of the heart and its functioning. Trans...

Design of high-resolution photodiode readout circuitry for a bio-implantable continuous glucose sensing chip

Glucose sensors are useful for monitoring and control of blood-sugar concentration for diabetic patients. There are many challenges in their wide-spread use and effectiveness in control of the disease. This work is a step towards achieving in vivo continuous long-term glucose monitoring using the optical near-infrared based glucose sensing...

The Desigh of a High Dynamic Range CMOS Image Sensor in 110nm Technology

This thesis presents the design of a dual-transfer-gate high dynamic range CMOS image sensor. Several methods that can be applied to extend the dynamic range have been developed. However, all of these solutions have undesired problems, such as nonlinearity response, higher dark current shot noise and discontinues signal-to-noise ratio. In this...

Pixel ADC Design for Hybrid CMOS Image Sensors

This thesis presents the design of a pixel level analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit for hybrid CMOS image sensors. There are several methods to increase the dynamic range of the sensor through the readout algorithm. The multiple sampling method can increase the dynamic range (DR) without a loss of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The idea is...

Ultra Linear Low-loss Varactors & Circuits for Adaptive RF Systems

With the evolution of wireless communication, varactors can play an important role in enabling adaptive transceivers as well as phase-diversity systems. This thesis presents various varactor diode-based circuit topologies that facilitate RF adaptivity. The proposed varactor configurations can act as variable capacitors with high tuning range,...

On pixel detection threshold in the gigavision camera

RF Amplifier Design Techniques for Linearity and Dynamic Range

This thesis presents circuit- and device-level linearization techniques to reduce the intermodulation distortion as well as the DC power consumption in RF amplifier circuits. As a key method to accomplish the research goals presented in Chapter 1, a so-called orthogonal design approach is introduced that allows for an uncompromised optimization...