Information about CMOS Cameras

CMOS cameras operate at lower voltages than CCDs, reducing power consumption for portable applications. Analog and digital processing functions can be integrated readily onto the CMOS chip, reducing system package size and overall cost. Each CMOS active pixel sensor cell has its own buffer amplifier, and can be addressed and read individually. A commonly used cell has four transistors and a photosensing element. The cell has a transfer gate separating the photosensor from a capacitive "floating diffusion", a reset gate between the floating diffusion and power supply, a source-follower transistor to buffer the floating diffusion from readout-line capacitance, and a row-select gate to connect the cell to the readout line. All pixels on a column connect to a common sense amplifier.

Products & Services Related to CMOS Cameras

CCD Cameras

Charge coupled device (CCD) cameras contain light-sensitive silicon chips that detect electrons excited by incoming light. They also contain micro circuitry that transfers a detected signal along a row of discrete picture elements or pixels, scanning the image very rapidly. CCD cameras use two-dimensional CCD arrays with many thousand of pixels.

High Speed Cameras

High speed cameras are designed for rapid image acquisition for scientific or industrial analysis of rapidly changing or moving processes.

Low Light Cameras

Low light cameras are designed for low light applications. They contain sensors that are highly sensitive to light and reduce images to a series of lines.

Video Cameras

Video cameras take continuous pictures and generate signals for display or recording. They capture images by breaking them down into a series of lines. This search form does not include consumer devices such as camcorders.

Vision Sensors

Vision sensors are machine vision video cameras with integrated signal processing and imaging electronics. They typically include program and data interfaces.