A 16-bit two-step pixel-level ADC for 384∗288 infrared focal plane array
This paper presents a novel 16-bit pixel-level analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for the 384∗288 Infrared Focal Plane Array (IRFPA). It is a two-step ADC: the first is coarse quantization, and the second is fine quantization. Coarse quantization is to process the most significant 12 bits using a voltage reset method. Fine quantization is to dispose the remaining 4 bits by applying a falling multistep signal on the bottom plate of the integrating capacitor. The ADC is implemented in standard SMIC 0.18μm 1.8V/5V CMOS process, with 100Hz sampling rate.