Abstract:
A method for determining if there is a temperature dependent hopping pixel defect in an image sensor, including the steps of providing an image sensor in a heated environment having a temperature selected such that hopping pixel defects can be detected; and operating the image sensor and analyzing the output of the pixels of the image sensor to determine if there are hopping pixel defects.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to detecting hopping pixel defects in CCD image sensors. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Image sensors typically are in the form of linear and area image sensors. These sensors are often provided by charge coupled devices (CCDs). Area image sensors can take the form of interline image sensors and full frame image sensors. There are a number of defects which affect image quality in image sensors. Of particular concern is a hopping pixel defect. This defect often comes up in a random fashion and so unless it is detected in an image sensor through manufacturing quality control, the image sensor will be delivered to the general public and have this defect. A hopping pixel defect is defined as a pixel whose dark signal level varies beyond the random noise along with the time. 
       FIG. 1   a  depicts a series of test for an individual pixel in an image sensor in which the output from the series of test is plotted as signal level versus time.  FIG. 1   a  also illustrates a representative output for a particular pixel that does not have a hopping pixel defect.  FIG. 1   b  depicts a histogram for the data of the pixel shown in  FIG. 1   a  which is a plot of the counts or frequency versus signal level. It shows that the normal dark signal obeys a Gaussian distribution and it has only one peak which means the pixel has only one signal level.  FIGS. 1   c  and  1   d  show similar plots to those respectively in  FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b , but in this case an individual pixel has a hopping pixel defect. In  FIG. 1   d  the hopping pixel has two peaks which represent two different signal levels. One is the normal dark signal level (about 372 counts) and the other one is the hopping signal level (about 386 counts). In this case, 8 digital counts equal to 1 millivolt. Therefore, the hopping magnitude is about 1.75 millivolt. 
     Heretofore it has been difficult to detect such defects. The difficulty of the task is that the hopping pixel signal is very small (almost down to a couple of millivolts, close to the test system noise level) and hopping rate is random (some defects may hop once per milliseconds and others may take minutes or even hours to hop once). 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a test method for effectively detecting hopping pixel defects in an image sensor. 
     It has been discovered that the hopping magnitude and hopping rate increase with the increase of the temperature. The present invention makes use of a heated environment to detect hopping pixel defects in an image sensor. 
     This object is achieved by a method for detecting if there are any temperature dependent hopping pixel defects in an image sensor, comprising the steps of:
         (a) providing an image sensor in a heated environment having a temperature selected such that hopping pixel defects can be detected; and   (b) testing the image sensor and analyzing the output of the pixels of the image sensor to determine if there are any hopping pixel defects.       

     It is a feature of the present invention that by testing an image sensor at higher temperature allows an amplification of a defect&#39;s signature, namely its hopping magnitude and hopping rate, so that small defect signal which is usually hidden in the system noise at ambient temperature can be detected. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b  depict graphs previously described for a particular pixel in an image sensor which does not have a hopping pixel defect; 
         FIGS. 1   c  and  1   d  depict graphs previously described for a particular pixel in an image sensor which does have a hopping pixel defect; 
         FIG. 2  depicts a representative test system for detecting for hopping pixel defects; 
         FIG. 3  shows a flowchart of a test algorithm in the system of  FIG. 2  to determine if there are any hopping pixel defects in an image sensor being tested in  FIG. 2 ; and 
         FIGS. 4   a-e  depict the output of various stages in the operation of the system of FIG.  2  and corresponding to positions in FIG.  3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIGS. 1   a - 1   d  are comparisons of dark signal levels and their histograms between a good pixel and a hopping pixel which have already been discussed in Background of the Invention section. 
       FIG. 2  is a representative diagram showing a test system for detecting hopping pixel defects in image sensors. A CCD image sensor  10  is seated on a heat plate  12  of which temperature is controlled by a temperature control unit  14 . The temperature of the plate  12  is typically adjusted so that the CCD image sensor  10  when operated will be at temperature in the range of about 20 to 80° C. As previously discussed, it has been determined that by heating the CCD image sensor  10  under test, the hopping pixel defects will become more pronounced and occur more frequently. The system has power supplies and pulse generating circuits  32  controlled by a central processing unit (CPU)  20  to support CCD DC bias and clock driver circuits  34 . The clock driver circuits  34  operates the CCD in a well known fashion under the control of the pulse generating circuits  32 . The CCD output signals are digitized and synchronized to display results on output device  48  (commonly a cathode ray tube (CRT)) through an A/D converter  42 , a frame grabber  44  and its internal memory  46 . A test algorithm  22  (will be discussed later) is fed into the CPU  20  at the beginning of the test and the CPU  20  controls the operating conditions of the CCD image sensor  10  and starts the test. The CPU  20  calculates the test results in its internal memory  46  according to the test algorithm  22  and sends the final results to output device  48 . The test is finished by mapping detected hopping pixel defects in the CCD image sensor  10  to the output device  48 . See  FIGS. 4   a-e.    
       FIG. 3  depicts a flowchart of a test algorithm for operating the system of  FIG. 2  to detect hopping pixel defects. When a test of a CCD image sensor  10  ( FIG. 2 ) starts in block  51 , a CPU  20  ( FIG. 2 ) is initialized in block  52 . Next in block  53  the CPU  20  ( FIG. 2 ) operates the system of  FIG. 2  so that a number of frames (X) of output signals are captured. These output signals for each pixel are averaged and then stored in an internal memory  46  (FIG.  2 ).  FIG. 4   a  shows an eight count-averaged output signals for the first cycle of the pixel in a 1 K linear CCD image sensor  10  being tested at 40° C. This capturing process repeats for a certain number of cycles (Y) which is predefined at the beginning of the test showing in block  55 .  FIG. 4   b  is the output signal of the 30 th  count cycle. In this chart, there are two pixels which have signal levels significantly higher than the normal level. For each count cycle, the CPU  20  ( FIG. 2 ) then updates the output signals in block  54  so as to store the maximum and minimum pixel values captured in the CCD image sensor  10  (FIG.  2 ).  FIGS. 4   c  and  4   d  show the maximum and minimum pixel values captured during the Y cycles in the CCD image sensor  10  (FIG.  2 ). 
     In block  56  the CPU  20  ( FIG. 2 ) subtracts the maximum from the minimum values for all pixels and gets the difference hereinafter referred to as Delts(I) (I is the index of pixels). Also  FIG. 4   e  shows the signal level of Delts(I). Comparing Delts(I) with a predefined threshold determines if a pixel has a potential hopping pixel defect as shown in block  57 . If the Delts(I) is larger than the threshold, the pixel I is called a potential hopping pixel.  FIG. 4   e  show pixels  15  and  300  have potential hopping pixel defects. Also in block  57  the CPU  20  ( FIG. 2 ) records the occurrence of those pixels being marked as potential hopping pixels. Therefore, in this pixel  15  and  300  are each recorded as one occurrence of potential hopping pixels. 
     Sometimes during the test, burst noise can be randomly generated from other sources such as electronic circuitry such as CPU  20  malfunction other than the CCD image sensor  10  itself. It is important to take this noise into account. Therefore, usually the above test repeats for a couple of loops (Z) showing in block  58 . In each loop for all pixels, the CPU  20  records the occurrences of their being caught as potential hopping pixels. Only those pixels with occurrences greater than a predefined value (T) are finally marked as hopping pixels. The process is shown in blocks  59  and  60 . Block  61  represents the end of the test. For example, if Z equals 2, it means the whole test repeats twice. In the second test loop, pixel  15  is recorded again as a potential hopping pixel, but not pixel  300 . If the predefine value T is 1, it means only those pixels whose occurrences being recorded as potential hopping pixels are greater than 1 are finally reported as hopping pixels. In this case, only pixel  15  is reported as a hopping pixel but not pixel  300  since pixel  300  is only recorded once and pixel  15  is recorded twice. 
     Depending on the noise performance of the test system showing in  FIG. 2 , the number of X-frame-average can be varied. Typically X equals from 4 to 16. Another parameter, the repeated cycle Y, is determined by the sensor&#39;s application such as the maximum duration time of the CCD image sensor  10 &#39;s single task, the quality factor and the cost. The larger Y, the longer time the sensor being tested and the better chance to capture the defective parts, but in higher cost. Also the numbers of Z and T can be varied with different applications. The threshold of determining if a pixel has a hopping defect mainly depends on customer&#39;s applications. It is usually much lower in the high-end applications than in the low-end applications. 
     A typical setting in the test system shown in  FIG. 2  is as follows. At temperature Temp=40° C., X=8, Y=50, Z=5, T=3. 
       FIGS. 4   a - 4   e  have already been described in this section which show the output profiles in different test stages in blocks  53 ,  54  and  56  (FIG.  3 ). These outputs can, of course, be visually produced by output device  48 . 
     The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention. 
     PARTS LIST 
     
         
           10  image sensor 
           12  heat plate 
           14  temperature control unit 
           15  hopping pixel 
           20  central processing unit 
           22  test algorithm 
           32  pulse generating circuits 
           34  clock driver circuits 
           42  A/D converter 
           44  frame grabber 
           46  internal memory 
           48  output device 
           51  block 
           52  block 
           53  block 
           54  block 
           55  block 
           56  block 
           57  block 
           58  block 
           59  block 
           60  block 
           61  block 
           300  hopping pixel