Differential Image Sensor With Decoupled Static and Dynamic Outputs

Abstract

ABSTRACT Acquiring and processing full‐motion details in machine vision typically consumes a substantial amount of energy. In contrast, a hierarchical processing architecture, combining a low‐power standby front end with an on‐demand activated back end, provides an optimized energy‐performance tradeoff. To achieve this, the complete acquisition and decoupling of static (brightness) and dynamic (amplitude and polarity) output at the sensory level are essential for activating on‐demand vision function. Here, we report a differential image sensor (DIS) that leverages differential photodiodes with decoupled differential and tunneling modes. These modes can be read out via conventional ROICs, paving the way for the up‐scaled integration (e.g., 640 × 512). With on‐demand activated dynamic and static modes, the DIS implements a hierarchical motion‐processing pipeline—from sparse motion detection to optical flow and depth analysis. This work provides a power‐efficient and scalable strategy for advancing vision‐based AIoT applications.