Over the years infrared imaging technology has improved significantly and many new applications, such as multicolor infrared imaging, thermal medical diagnostics, and remote sensing, have emerged. This growth has been made possible by dramatic technical advances in the infrared sensor manufacturing as well as remarkable improvements in algorithms for image recognition, analysis and processing. However, the readout integrated circuit (ROIC), which is the interface between infrared sensors and the post-processing unit, has shown little improvement over the years. This can be attributed, for the most part, due to the fact that ROICs have been designed traditionally as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), which cannot support reconfiguration nor adaptivity.

The main objective of this research is to design and prototype an intelligent readout integrated circuit (iROIC) with built-in programmable analog blocks, capable of performing basic spatio-temporal image-processing and image-recognition operations utilizing temporal and spatial (at the pixel-level) tunable bias unit cell.

In recent years, network bandwidth requirements have scaled multiple folds, pushing the need for the development of data exchange mechanisms at 100 Gb/s and beyond. Internet exchanges, high-performance computing, and personalized content such as YouTube, IPTV, and HDTV are a few of the numerous applications that will leverage such high bandwidth capabilities. Even though reliable 10 Gb/s links currently exist, the option of aggregating these links to create a bigger pipe is being quickly surpassed by today’s bandwidth needs.

A new device that contains arrays of light sources (LEDs) and photo-detectors is teh core of this project. The new device is plan to be fabricated by hybridizing arrays of nanowire LEDs on arrays of photo-detectors and readout/control circuits on a silicon wafer. The proposed integrated LED/detector device opens up several new research avenues, including: lens-less microscope, self-calibrating LED, visible light communication, and smart lighting systems.