Digital readout integrated circuit for high dynamic range infrared imaging

A 1280 x 720 format, 8 μm pixel pitch digital readout integrated circuit (DROIC) for intra-frame high dynamic range (HDR) infrared imaging is presented. Unlike traditional inter-frame HDR imaging where frames with different integration times are temporally combined to obtain an HDR frame, intra-frame HDR imaging is accomplished by spatially interpolating neighboring pixels with different integration times to obtain HDR pixels, thereby achieving the same level of dynamic range improvement without compromising temporal resolution and mostly retaining spatial resolution. In intraframe HDR mode, the infrared imager can achieve a phenomenal >57 dB improvement in dynamic range over normal mode