Semiconductor sensor circuit arrangement

A circuit arrangement for generating an error-corrected representation of a bioluminescence signal, the arrangement comprising:

• a first-stage analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit for oversampling and quantizing an analog representation of the bioluminescence signal to provide a first-stage digital output and a residual error;
• a second-stage ADC circuit for using successive approximation to provide the residual error in a second-stage digital output;
• and
• an output circuit for generating an error-corrected representation of the bioluminescence signal based upon the first-stage and second-stage digital outputs.

A semiconductor-based modulator circuit arrangement for sensing bioluminescence via oversampling, the circuit arrangement comprising:

• a photosensor array for detecting light and providing an analog signal that characterizes the detected light;
• a second order incremental ΣΔ modulator circuit exhibiting an analog residual error and adapted to process the analog signal to output a triangularly-weighted digital output signal;
• a successive approximation analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) circuit adapted to encode the residual error of the modulator circuit and to provide a digital output corresponding to the encoded residual error;
• and
• an output circuit to process the triangularly-weighted digital output signal with the encoded residual error output from the ADC circuit to provide an oversampled and corrected signal representing the detected light.

A method for generating an error-corrected representation of an input sensor signal, the method comprising:

• oversampling and quantizing an analog representation of the input signal to provide a first-stage digital output and a residual error;
• using successive approximation to provide the residual error as a second-stage digital output;
• and
• generating an error-corrected representation of the input signal based upon the first-stage and second-stage digital outputs.