Implementation of a multi-spectral color imaging device without Color Filter Array

In this work the use of the Transverse Field Detector (TFD) as a device for multispectral image acquisition is proposed. The TFD is a color imaging pixel capable of color reconstruction without color filters. Its basic working principle is based on the generation of a suitable electric field configuration inside a Silicon depleted region by means of biasing voltages applied to surface contacts. With respect to previously proposed methods for performing multispectral capture, the TFD has a unique characteristic of electrically tunable spectral responses. This feature allows capturing an image with different sets of spectral responses (RGB, R'G'B', and so on) simply by tuning the device biasing voltages in multiple captures. In this way no hardware complexity (no external filter wheels or varying sources) is added with respect to a colorimetric device. The estimation of the spectral reflectance of the area imaged by a TFD pixel is based in this work on a linear combination of six eigenfunctions. It is shown that a spectral reconstruction can be obtained either (1) using two subsequent image captures that generate six TFD spectral responses or (2) using a new asymmetric biasing scheme, which allows the implementation of five spectral responses for each TFD pixel site in a single configuration, definitely allowing one-shot multispectral imaging.