Design and Realization of a Lensless CMOS Image Sensor for Light Source Tracking

Master thesis (2021)

Authors

Secil Sanseven Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Contributors

S. Vollebregt Electronic Components, Technology and Materials - EEMCS (supervisor 1)
J. Romijn Electronic Components, Technology and Materials - EEMCS (supervisor 1)
Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Copyright: © 2021 Secil Sanseven
Angle sensitive pixels BiCMOS Angle sensitivity Light source tracking Pixel array Diffraction grating
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Published Date

08-11-2021

Language

English

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Abstract

Localization of a light source in the space requires capturing its light intensity and angle information. However, conventional CMOS image sensors can only capture light intensity and wavelength. These sensors need to be augmented with an optical extension such as an aperture or a lens in order to capture the angle information. The use of optical apertures presents various drawbacks regarding the need for calibration, the difficulty of miniaturization, and CMOS integration. This work presents a lensless CMOS image sensor architecture for light source tracking applications, thereby eliminating the need for an optical aperture for angle sensitivity. The proposed design of angle-sensitive pixels (ASPs) with 1 um, 1.5 um, and 2 um grating pitches are implemented on a 5.6x5.6 um2 photodiode array. The fabricated ASP device with 2 um grating pitch can resolve angles up to 0.37∘ accuracy with post-process characterization. Furthermore, a metal shading structure is incorporated into the pixel array for coarse angle detection which determines the incident angle’s location on the periodic ASP response.