Smart Pixels for Novel Optical Imaging Techniques

Dr. Peter Seitz

Head, Science & Technology, Swissnex, San Francisco , California Professor in Optoelectonics, University of Neuchatel , Switzerland on extended leave of absence as Vice President Photonics, Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, Zurich , Switzerland

Semiconductor technology progresses at a relentless pace, making it possible to provide image sensors and each pixel with an increasing amount of custom analog and digital functionality. As experience with such photosensor functionality grows, an increasing variety of modular building blocks become available for smart pixels, single-chip digital cameras and functional image sensors. Examples include a non-linear pixel response circuit for high-dynamic range imaging with a dynamic range exceeding 180 dB, low-noise amplifiers and avalanche-effect pixels for high-sensitivity detection performance approaching single-photon resolution, lock-in pixels for optical time-of-flight range cameras with sub-centimeter distance resolution and in-pixel demodulation circuits for optical coherence tomography imaging.

Based on these capabilities, new high-performance photonic microsystems are being developed, either by implementing known optical measurement techniques in a more efficient way, or by realizing novel techniques, whose implementation requires the availability of non-traditional image sensing functionality at the limits imposed by physics.