Patent · US Expired

Photosensing throughout energy range and in subranges

US7291824B2 · kind B2 · utility

46Cited by
45References
30Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 22, 2005
Grant dateNov 6, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 5, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10F39/8053
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An integrated circuit (IC) includes a photosensor array, some cells of which are reference cells that photosense throughout an application's energy range, while other cells of which are subrange cells that photosense within respective subranges. For example, the subrange cells can receive photons in their respective subranges from a transmission structure that has laterally varying properties, such as due to varying optical thickness. The reference cells may be uncoated or may also receive photons through a transmission structure such as a gray filter. Subrange cells and reference cells may be paired in adjacent lines across the array, such as rows. Where photon emanation can vary along a path, quantities of incident photons photosensed by subrange cells along the path can be adjusted based on quantities photosensed by their paired reference cells, such as with normalization.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.