READING DEVICE WITH TIME DELAY AND ACCUMULATION OF SIGNALS FROM MULTI-ELEMENT INFRARED PHOTODETECTORS Russian patent published in 2013 - IPC H01L27/14 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: device has m reading channels. Each reading channel consists of a reading unit with n reading cells, a block of signal time delay and accumulation (TDA) stages with n signal TDA stages and is provided with a k-bit shift register, where k is the number of bits of a distributed analogue-to-digital converter. The reading unit is connected by an N-bit voltage comparison signal bus with the block of TDA stages. Each reading cell is connected to the corresponding N-th bit of the N-bit voltage comparison signal bus. The reading cell comprises an integrating amplifier, a sampling and storage cell, a comparator, a latch and a logic AND element. Analogue elements - integrating amplifier, sampling and storage cell and comparator - are connected in series in said order relative one of the inputs of each by analogue buses. The integrating amplifier is connected to a photodetector. A TDA stage comprises a parametric comparison signal multiplexer, a logic AND element, a k-bit counter, a k-bit element with three states at the output, connected in series in said order, as well as an additional k-bit shift register. One of the N-bit inputs of the parametric multiplexer is connected to an N-bit voltage comparison signal bus. The output of the k-bit element, which is the output of the TDA stage, is connected by a K-bit bus for reading data from the reading channel to the k-bit shift register of the reading channel. The output of the k-bit shift register of each reading channel is connected by the data transmission bus of shift registers of the reading channel in the direction of the increasing number of the reading channel with the k-bit shift register of the next reading channel. The output of the m-th reading channel is connected to the output data bus of the device.

EFFECT: wider dynamic range and enabling signal reading by each channel with an unlimited number of photosensitive elements of the photodetector.

7 cl, 5 dwg