Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0464-6768
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5876-2073
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9510-5627
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6232-0515
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-24-2024
Publication Title
IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
Department
Thayer School of Engineering
Abstract
Working from a Poisson-Gaussian noise model, a multisample extension of the photon counting histogram expectation-maximization (PCH-EM) algorithm is derived as a general-purpose alternative to the photon transfer (PT) method. This algorithm is derived from the same model, requires the same experimental data, and estimates the same sensor performance parameters as the time-tested PT method, all while obtaining lower uncertainty estimates. It is shown that as read noise becomes large, multiple data samples are necessary to capture enough information about the parameters of a device under test, justifying the need for a multisample extension. An estimation procedure is devised consisting of initial PT characterization followed by repeated iteration of PCH-EM to demonstrate the improvement in estimating uncertainty achievable with PCH-EM, particularly in the regime of deep subelectron read noise (DSERN). A statistical argument based on the information theoretic concept of sufficiency is formulated to explain how PT data reduction procedures discard information contained in raw sensor data, thus explaining why the proposed algorithm is able to obtain lower uncertainty estimates of key sensor performance parameters, such as read noise and conversion gain. Experimental data captured from a CMOS quanta image sensor with DSERN are then used to demonstrate the algorithm’s usage and validate the underlying theory and statistical model. In support of the reproducible research effort, the code associated with this work can be obtained on the MathWorks file exchange (FEX) (Hendrickson et al., 2024).
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2024.3414369
Original Citation
A. J. Hendrickson, D. P. Haefner, S. H. Chan, N. R. Shade and E. R. Fossum, "PCH-EM: A Solution to Information Loss in the Photon Transfer Method," in IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 71, no. 8, pp. 4781-4788, Aug. 2024, doi: 10.1109/TED.2024.3414369.
Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation
Hendrickson, Aaron J.; Haefner, David P.; Chan, Stanley H.; Shade, Nicholas R.; and Fossum, Eric R., "PCH-EM: A Solution to Information Loss in the Photon Transfer Method" (2024). Dartmouth Scholarship. 4349.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/4349
