A 1-inch optical format, 14.2M-pixel, 80fps CMOS image sensor with a pipelined pixel reset and readout operation

A 1-inch optical format, 14.2M-pixel, 80fps, digital-output CMOS image sensor that employs a row-shared dual conversion gain pixel is presented. To achieve the 80 fps readout rate, a pipelined pixel reset/readout scheme named “nesting scan” has been introduced, where the charge sense node inside a pixel is reset during the previous row. Readout noise and maximum handling signal charge of the sensor are 1.7e_rms^- and 16ke^-, respectively, and the ratio of column FPN to readout noise is lower than 0.03 in all gain conditions.