Active hollow four quadrant orientation detector array for application to pattern recognition

The active hollow F_O_ur Q_U_adrant O_rientation D_etector (active hollow FOQUOD) two dimensional 8×8 array using amorphous silicon material deposited on a silicon substrate has been fabricated successfully. This array can extract the contrast edges and the edge orientations of the test patterns with an accuracy within 7 degrees. Since the measured patterns are consistent with the expected results, part of the traditional data processing steps using software may be replaced by this hardware sensor array. A simpler algorithm for pattern recognition can then be developed