Microbolometer unit cell signal processing circuit
First Claim
1. A circuit for processing a signal provided by a microbolometer unit cell comprising:
- first means for selectively applying electrical energy to a first terminal of the unit cell to generate first and second signals at the first terminal thereof during first and second time intervals, said first means including a current source and a first switch for selectively connecting the current source to the first terminal of the unit cell;
second means for sampling the first signal during the first time interval and for sampling the second signal during the second time interval to provide first and second sampled signals respectively, said second means including a second switch having a first terminal connected to the first terminal of the unit cell; and
third means for providing a third signal which is directly proportional to a difference between the first sampled signal and the second sampled signal, said third means including a capacitor having a first terminal connected to a second terminal of the second switch.
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Abstract
A circuit (30) for processing a signal provided by a silicon microbolometer unit cell (76). In accordance with the invention, electrical energy is applied to a first terminal of the unit cell (76) to generate first and second signals at the first terminal thereof during first and second time intervals or fields, respectively. These signals are sampled and subtracted from each other by a sampling capacitor (80) to provide a third signal which is directly proportional to a difference between the first signal and the second sampled signal. In a specific embodiment, the difference signal is amplified to provide the desired output signal. The inventive circuit provides coarse DC offset non-uniformity correction and sets the overall gain of a focal plane array of silicon microbolometer unit cell detectors. This allows for use of a simplified analog signal processing circuit.
40 Citations
9 Claims
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1. A circuit for processing a signal provided by a microbolometer unit cell comprising:
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first means for selectively applying electrical energy to a first terminal of the unit cell to generate first and second signals at the first terminal thereof during first and second time intervals, said first means including a current source and a first switch for selectively connecting the current source to the first terminal of the unit cell; second means for sampling the first signal during the first time interval and for sampling the second signal during the second time interval to provide first and second sampled signals respectively, said second means including a second switch having a first terminal connected to the first terminal of the unit cell; and third means for providing a third signal which is directly proportional to a difference between the first sampled signal and the second sampled signal, said third means including a capacitor having a first terminal connected to a second terminal of the second switch. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A night vision camera comprising:
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an array of microbolometer unit cells; a plurality of unit cell signal processing circuits, one for each unit cell, each circuit including; a current source, a first switch for coupling said current source to a first terminal of an associated unit cell to generate first and second signals at the first terminal thereof during first and second time intervals, sampling means for sampling the first signal during the first time interval and for sampling the second signal during the second time interval to provide first and second sampled signals respectively, said sampling means including a second switch having a first terminal connected to the first terminal of the unit cell, means providing a third signal which is directly proportional to a difference between the first sampled signal and the second sampled signal, said means including a capacitor having a first terminal connected to a second terminal of the second switch, and amplifying means for amplifying the difference between the first sampled signal and the second sampled signal; and means for displaying the amplified difference signals.
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Specification