
4-1
4.1 Introduction
Image sensors play an important role both in everyday life and in highly specialized tasks. Image sen-
sors
ar
e
us
ed
in we
bcams,
ce
ll
ph
ones,
an
d
di
gital
ca
meras
. As sh
own
in Fi
gure
4.1, th
eir
ap
plication
ca
n
be co
nned
to ta
sks
su
ch
as lo
w-powered
mi
niaturized
se
nsors,
hi
gh-resolution
im
agers,
hi
gh-speed
ac
quisition
sy
stems,
an
d
ma
chine
vi
sion
pr
ocessing
. Ea
ch
ap
plication
re
quires
ce
rtain
sp
ecications
an
d
ch
aracteristics
of th
e
im
age
se
nsor
. Fo
r
ex
ample,
in on
e
in
stance,
th
e
po
wer
co
nsumption
ca
n
be
th
e
do
minant
fa
ctor,
wh
ile
in an
other
ap
plication
th
e
se
nsor
sp
eed
is cr
itical
. In po
rtable
de
vices
su
ch
as
mobile phones, ...