Ulis

Lynred

Commissariat &#xc0; L'&#xc9;nergie Atomique Et Aux &#xc9;nergies Alternatives

Societe Francaise De Detecteurs Infrarouges-sofradir

Patrick Robert

Jean-Jacques Yon

Michel Vilain

Roger Petigny

A device of integration of an electric current received on an integration node, includes an operational amplifier, an integration capacitor, and a circuit for modifying an output voltage of the operational amplifier formed by a charge transfer circuit configured to be connected on the integration node and to transfer charges into the integration capacitor. The device also includes a comparison circuit configured to trigger the modification circuit at least once during the integration duration, and a storage circuit configured to store the number of triggerings which have occurred during the integration duration. The received electric current is calculated according to the output voltage as well as to the number of triggerings multiplied by the modification of the output voltage induced by the modification circuit.

High dynamic device for integrating an electric current

An infrared sensor includes an assembly of pixels juxtaposed in rows and in columns, each pixel integrating an imaging microbolometer and an integrator assembly. The integrator assembly includes a transistor assembled as an amplifier, and a capacitor assembled in feedback on the transistor between an output node and an integration node. The integration node is connected to a skimming transistor operating as a current mirror with a skimming control transistor offset outside of the pixel. A skimming current flowing through the skimming control transistor is controlled according to the temperature of at least one thermalized microbolometer. The current mirror assembly enables to transmit the skimming current flowing through said skimming control transistor onto the integration node so that the capacitor integrates the difference between a current flowing through the imaging microbolometer and the skimming current.

Snapshot infrared sensor

A device for integrating an electric current during a period T, including an operational amplifier and a capacitor connected between a first input and an output of the amplifier, a second input of the amplifier being taken to a voltage VBUS, output voltage Vof the amplifier being saturated at a high voltage Vand a low voltage Vaccording to the charge quantity in the capacitor. The device also includes: a circuit for switching the terminals of the capacitor; and a circuit for triggering the circuit at least once during period Twhen voltage Vboth grows and is substantially equal to a reference voltage VREF, the voltage VREF being smaller than or equal to voltage V, and reference voltage VREF and voltage VBUS being selected to comply with relation 2&#xb7;VBUS&#x2212;VREF&#x2265;V; and a storage circuit for storing the number of triggerings having occurred between the initial time and the end time of the integration period.

High dynamic range device for integrating an electrical current

An infrared detector including an array of detection bolometers each having a bolometric membrane suspended above a substrate, and associated with each bolometer: a detection branch, including the bolometer and a circuit performing a biasing according to a voltage set point, a compensation branch, including a compensation bolometer thermalized to the substrate, a circuit performing a biasing according to a voltage set point, an integrator for generating a voltage by integrating a difference between the currents flowing through said branches, a circuit generating a quantity depending on substrate temperature, including: a bolometer thermalized to the substrate, and a circuit for biasing the bolometer, and a circuit for generating the voltage set points according to said quantity. When the array is exposed to a uniform reference scene, the average of the differences between currents flowing through said branches is within the integrator dynamic range for a substrate temperature range from &#x2212;30&#xb0; C.-90&#xb0; C.

Bolometric detector with a temperature-adaptive biasing

An electromagnetic radiation detection device including multiple elementary detectors grouped into one or more sub-assemblies each including several elementary detectors, where each elementary detector is connected by an interconnection to an impedance-matching device. The impedance-matching device is common to all the elementary detectors of a single sub-assembly, in each sub-assembly the interconnections have roughly the same resistance value.

Device for detection of electromagnetic radiation with low sensitivity to spatial noise

A method of digitizing an analog quantity from an electromagnetic radiation detector including a matrix of juxtaposed elementary sensors, including, for each line or column of the matrix, the steps of: integrating the analog quantity using an integrator stage; converting the integrated analog quantity to a first numerical value via a binary counter and a memory element connected to the output of a comparator stage; converting the first numerical value to an analog signal via an analog-to-digital converter; subtracting the analog signal from the analog quantity to be digitized; amplifying the signal resulting from the subtraction with a gain representing the first numerical value; integrating to produce a second numerical value proportional to the analog signal thereby amplified and forming a second binary number representing the least significant bits; and adding said first and second numerical values to form a number representative of the analog quantity to be integrated.

Method for digitizing an analog quantity, digitizing device implementing said method, and electromagnetic radiation detector integrating such a device

A device for detecting electromagnetic radiations implements a detection circuit associated with a reading circuit. The detection circuit includes an array of detection pixels, each comprising a thermal detector of biased bolometric type, and delivering an electric current signal representative of detected radiation. The signal undergoes a double baselining, respectively: a global baselining carried out by means of a thermally isolated bolometer, ensuring extraction from the signal, of a first current of constant value inherent to the biasing of the thermal detector, and an adaptive baselining specific to each of the pixels, carried out by a programmable current generator generating a current for subtraction from the current signal, as a function of the dispersion inherent to the pixel considered relative to a reference signal and stored in an associated memory integrated at the level of each of the pixels.

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Reaumont, France

Patrick Robert