An artificial retina chip made of a 128 x 128 pn-np variable-sensitivity photodetector array

Author

Funatsu, Eiichi ; Hara, Kunihiko ; Toyoda, Takashi ; Miyake, Yasunari ; Ohta, Jun ; Tai, Shuichi ; Kyuma, Kazuo

Author_Institution

Semicond. Res. Lab., Mitsubishi Electr. Corp., Hyogo, Japan

Volume

7

Issue

2

fYear

1995

Firstpage

188

Lastpage

190

Abstract

An artificial retina chip is an image detection device that, like biological retinas, can extract essential features directly from projected images. This paper presents an artificial retina chip consisting of a 128/spl times/128 array of pn-np variable-sensitivity photodetectors (VSPD\´s). This photodetector (PD) utilizes pn junctions and thus avoids the rather inflexible memory effect encountered in our previously reported device, which used Schottky contacts in a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) configuration. We introduce a novel "filter division" method for arbitrary two-dimensional (2-D) filter operation, and successfully employ it in a 2-D edge extraction task.<>

Keywords

computer vision; edge detection; image processing; integrated optoelectronics; photodetectors; sensitivity; spatial filters; 128/spl times/128 pn-np variable-sensitivity photodetector array; 2-D edge extraction task; artificial retina chip; computer vision; filter division; filter operation; image detection device; projected images; Electrodes; Feature extraction; Filters; Gallium arsenide; Image processing; Machine vision; Photodetectors; Retina; Schottky barriers; Substrates;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.345918

Filename

345918