a-Si : H color imagers and colorimetry

Amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) based color detectors have matured to an establi shed technology since the first color image sensor in thin film on ASIC (TF A) technology (ASIC = application specific integrated circuit) equipped wit h a trichomatic photo detector has been successfully demonstrated. This col or sensitive device applies an optimized pi(3)n diode with stacked intrinsi c absorption layers that has a voltage controlled spectral response. It com bines 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 IFA sensor array CAESAR (color array with enhanced sensitivity and resolution) consis ting of 512 x 104 pixels that allows detection of the three fundamental col ors of the incident illumination in each sensor pixel. The experimental res ults show that the color rendering performance of the TFA color imager is c omparable to conventional color sensor arrays using mosaic filters. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.