Device and method for reading electric currents resulting from an electromagnetic signal detector

• US 8,217,641 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2009
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Societe Francaise de Detecteurs Infrarouges-Sofradir
• Original Assignee: Societe Francaise de Detecteurs Infrarouges-Sofradir
• Inventors: Sanson, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): ISLA RODAS, RICHARD
• Application Number:
  US12/568,096
• Publication Number:
  US 20100090681A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,016 Days
• Field of Search: 324/111
• US Class Current: 324/111
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/46 using a capacitor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/75 Circuitry for providing, modifying or processing image signals from the pixel array

Abstract

A device for reading electric currents including a capacitive element to integrate the current, the terminals of the capacitive element being connected to the mass and to an output branch of the device respectively, and a differential pair including: a first transistor mounted between the input branch of the input stage and the capacitive element, the transistor being controlled by a polarized impulse voltage, capable of putting the first transistor alternately into the off state and then into the on state; and a second transistor mounted between the input branch of the input stage and a potential other than that of the capacitive element, said transistor also being controlled by a polarized impulse voltage, capable of putting the second transistor alternately into the off state and then into the on state, wherein the second transistor is mounted in phase opposition relative to the first transistor.

Claims

1. A device for reading electric currents received on an input branch coming from elementary sensors of a matrix device for detecting electromagnetic radiation, comprising a capacitive element that integrates the currents, the terminals of said capacitive element being connected to a mass and to an output branch of said device respectively, wherein said device further comprises a differential pair consisting of:

a first transistor mounted between the input branch and the capacitive element, said first transistor being controlled by a polarized impulse voltage capable of putting said first transistor alternately into the off state and then into the on state, wherein when said first transistor is in the on state, said first transistor sets the potential of the input branch to a constant value and supplies the capacitive element with the currents for reading;

a second transistor mounted between the input branch and a potential other than that of the capacitive element, said second transistor also being controlled by a polarized impulse voltage capable of putting said second transistor alternately into the off state and then into the on state, wherein when said second transistor is in the on state, said second transistor keeps the input branch at a constant potential in time other than that of the capacitive element and drains the charges received on the input branch elsewhere than into the capacitive element, wherein said second transistor is controlled in phase opposition relative to the first transistor, the second transistor being in the on state every time the first transistor is in the off state, and the second transistor being in the off state every time the first transistor is in the on state.

2. The device for reading electric currents as claimed in claim 1, wherein said transistors are CMOS, or bipolar, transistors, the transistors being n-type or p-type.

3. The device for reading electric currents as claimed in claim 1, wherein said input branch is connected to an elementary sensor forming part of an assembly of elementary sensors arranged in a line or in a matrix.

4. A method for reading electric currents, such as those coming from elementary sensors of a matrix device for detecting electromagnetic radiation, wherein it implements the device as claimed in claim 1, that further sequentially comprises the following steps:

generating a first voltage pulse (V_pol1), in the form of a square pulse, using a polarized impulse voltage source (V_pol1, V_pol2);

putting the first transistor into the on state in order to inject a current for reading capable of charging the capacitive element, while the second transistor is put into the off state;

generating a second pulse (V_pol2) in phase opposition with said first pulse (V_pol1), in the form of a square pulse, using the polarized impulse voltage source (V_pol1, V_pol2) ;

putting the second transistor into the on state in order to keep the input branch at a constant potential, while the first transistor is put into the off state, the capacitive element then being read across the output branch sequentially.

5. The method for reading electric currents as claimed in claim 4, wherein it comprises repeating said step sequence in order to obtain a plurality of phases of integrating current into the capacitive element, the phases during which the first transistor is put into the off state and the second transistor is put into the on state allowing the evacuation of the charges received on the input branch by the second transistor in order to read the total amount of the integrated charges as well as the intermediate charge build-ups.

6. A method for reading electric currents as claimed in claim 4, wherein the amplitudes of the first and second pulses are selected in such a way that a transistor put into the off state is on the verge of triggering the on state.