a-Si:H color imagers and colorimetry

Abstract Amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) based color detectors have matured to an established technology since the first color image sensor in thin film on ASIC (TFA) technology (ASIC=application specific integrated circuit) equipped with a trichomatic photo detector has been successfully demonstrated. This color sensitive device applies an optimized pi 3 n diode with stacked intrinsic absorption layers that has a voltage controlled spectral response. It combines excellent color separation with a large dynamic range (>100 dB). The color recognition properties are examined by colorimetrical calculations as well as experimental analysis of color images recorded with the TFA sensor array CAESAR (color array with enhanced sensitivity and resolution) consisting of 512×104 pixels that allows detection of the three fundamental colors of the incident illumination in each sensor pixel. The experimental results show that the color rendering performance of the TFA color imager is comparable to conventional color sensor arrays using mosaic filters.