Readout circuit in active pixel sensors in amorphous silicon technology

The most widely used architecture in large area amorphous silicon (a-Si) flat panel imagers is a passive pixel sensor (PPS), which consists of a detector and a readout switch. While the PPS has the advantage of being compact and amenable toward high-resolution imaging, reading small PPS output signals requires external circuitry such as column charge amplifiers that produce additional noise and reduce the minimum readable sensor input signal. This work presents a current mode amorphous silicon active pixel that performs on-pixel amplification of noise-vulnerable sensor input signals to minimize the effect of external readout noise sources associated with "off-chip" charge amplifiers. Preliminary results indicate excellent small signal linearity along with a high and programmable charge gain.