Part III Sensors #34
Description
16.2 Pixel sensitivity and fill factor
[1] Explain usefulness: Detail one modern imaging system or application (e.g., a self-driving car sensor, a smartphone camera, a medical device) that critically relies on this concept. Why is understanding this concept essential for engineering an image system?
I thought the fill factor was very interesting and has applications to a smartphone camera when wanting to get better photos at night. The fill factor is how much of the pixel area is used to detect light. Understanding the importance of the fill factor will help you get more sensitivity: a larger fill factor means more pixel dedicated to light detection which means more sensitivity. This is why the introduction of backside illuminated CMOS was so important! Anyone looking to take photographs at night or inside benefits from this development.
17.3.1 UV/IR filters
[2] Propose improvement: Identify one specific area (a paragraph, figure, or example) within your section that you feel could be explained more clearly, connected more strongly to a different part of the book, or better illustrated. Rewrite or suggest an addition to that specific part that would improve the learning experience for future students.
One specific suggestion would be about the filters in paragraph 17.3.1 UV/IR filters. I think the explanation about the IR filter was clear but I think it would be helpful to also include "anti-aliasing" in this section as well since we talked about it in lecture-- anti-aliasing filters blur the image a little bit. Part of the blurring is to make the resolution match the 2x2 region of a Bayer color filter array. Related, the blurring filters some high frequency information that will cause aliasing on sensor image.