A column-based two-stage analog-to-digital converter for uncooled microbolometer arrays

This paper presents a column-based, two-stage, 12-bit analog-to-digital converter structure designed for uncooled microbolometer arrays. On-chip analog-to-digital converters prevent the degradation of sensitive analog output by external noise sources as well as providing a more integrated functionality. Despite these advantages, the area and power constraints limit the usage of high performance converters. This paper presents a new structure that provides a balance between area, power, and performance. The structure is composed of two stages: a tracking ADC stage running at each column during integration and a successive approximation ADC stage which is shared by a number of columns depending on the array size and operation frequency. The tracking ADC operates during the integration time, while the second ADC starts after the integration is completed. The converter includes self-calibration to lower the effect of process variations and digital correction mechanisms to eliminate the need for low-offset comparators. The simulations and theoretical calculations based on the simulation results show that the total power dissipation of the proposed structure will be approximately 73.7 mW and 88.4 mW on a 320x240 array operating at 60 Hz and 384x288 array operating at 50 Hz, respectively.