scholarly journals Front-Inner Lens for High Sensitivity of CMOS Image Sensors

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Godeun Seok ◽  
Yunkyung Kim

Due to the continuing improvements in camera technology, a high-resolution CMOS image sensor is required. However, a high-resolution camera requires that the pixel pitch is smaller than 1.0 μm in the limited sensor area. Accordingly, the optical performance of the pixel deteriorates with the aspect ratio. If the pixel depth is shallow, the aspect ratio is enhanced. Also, optical performance can improve if the sensitivity in the long wavelengths is guaranteed. In this current work, we propose a front-inner lens structure that enhances the sensitivity to the small pixel size and the shallow pixel depth. The front-inner lens was located on the front side of the backside illuminated pixel for enhancement of the absorption. The proposed structures in the 1.0 μm pixel pitch were investigated with 3D optical simulation. The pixel depths were 3.0, 2.0, and 1.0 μm. The materials of the front-inner lens were varied, including air and magnesium fluoride (MgF2). For analysis of the sensitivity enhancement, we compared the typical pixel with the suggested pixel and confirmed that the absorption rate of the suggested pixel was improved by a maximum of 7.27%, 10.47%, and 29.28% for 3.0, 2.0, and 1.0 μm pixel depths, respectively.

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (24) ◽  
pp. 5459
Author(s):  
Wei Deng ◽  
Eric R. Fossum

This work fits the measured in-pixel source-follower noise in a CMOS Quanta Image Sensor (QIS) prototype chip using physics-based 1/f noise models, rather than the widely-used fitting model for analog designers. This paper discusses the different origins of 1/f noise in QIS devices and includes correlated double sampling (CDS). The modelling results based on the Hooge mobility fluctuation, which uses one adjustable parameter, match the experimental measurements, including the variation in noise from room temperature to –70 °C. This work provides useful information for the implementation of QIS in scientific applications and suggests that even lower read noise is attainable by further cooling and may be applicable to other CMOS analog circuits and CMOS image sensors.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 2073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazunari Kurita ◽  
Takeshi Kadono ◽  
Satoshi Shigematsu ◽  
Ryo Hirose ◽  
Ryosuke Okuyama ◽  
...  

We developed silicon epitaxial wafers with high gettering capability by using hydrocarbon–molecular–ion implantation. These wafers also have the effect of hydrogen passivation on process-induced defects and a barrier to out-diffusion of oxygen of the Czochralski silicon (CZ) substrate bulk during Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) device fabrication processes. We evaluated the electrical device performance of CMOS image sensor fabricated on this type of wafer by using dark current spectroscopy. We found fewer white spot defects compared with those of intrinsic gettering (IG) silicon wafers. We believe that these hydrocarbon–molecular–ion–implanted silicon epitaxial wafers will improve the device performance of CMOS image sensors.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoya Nakamura ◽  
Keiichiro Kagawa ◽  
Shiho Torashima ◽  
Masahiro Yamaguchi

A lensless camera is an ultra-thin computational-imaging system. Existing lensless cameras are based on the axial arrangement of an image sensor and a coding mask, and therefore, the back side of the image sensor cannot be captured. In this paper, we propose a lensless camera with a novel design that can capture the front and back sides simultaneously. The proposed camera is composed of multiple coded image sensors, which are complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors in which air holes are randomly made at some pixels by drilling processing. When the sensors are placed facing each other, the object-side sensor works as a coding mask and the other works as a sparsified image sensor. The captured image is a sparse coded image, which can be decoded computationally by using compressive sensing-based image reconstruction. We verified the feasibility of the proposed lensless camera by simulations and experiments. The proposed thin lensless camera realized super-field-of-view imaging without lenses or coding masks and therefore can be used for rich information sensing in confined spaces. This work also suggests a new direction in the design of CMOS image sensors in the era of computational imaging.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (7) ◽  
pp. 103-1-103-6
Author(s):  
Taesub Jung ◽  
Yonghun Kwon ◽  
Sungyoung Seo ◽  
Min-Sun Keel ◽  
Changkeun Lee ◽  
...  

An indirect time-of-flight (ToF) CMOS image sensor has been designed with 4-tap 7 μm global shutter pixel in back-side illumination process. 15000 e- of high full-well capacity (FWC) per a tap of 3.5 μm pitch and 3.6 e- of read-noise has been realized by employing true correlated double sampling (CDS) structure with storage gates (SGs). Noble characteristics such as 86 % of demodulation contrast (DC) at 100MHz operation, 37 % of higher quantum efficiency (QE) and lower parasitic light sensitivity (PLS) at 940 nm have been achieved. As a result, the proposed ToF sensor shows depth noise less than 0.3 % with 940 nm illuminator in even long distance.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (01) ◽  
pp. 1250076 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAIMING NIE ◽  
SUYING YAO ◽  
JIANGTAO XU ◽  
JING GAO

A current source circuit for high-resolution CMOS image sensors is introduced in this paper, which can provide a stable current with immunity from IR-drop along the power and ground wires. In the circuit, two pre-charged floating capacitors controlled by two-phase non-overlap clock are connected between the gate and source of a MOS transistor alternately to maintain a constant V GS of the MOS transistor. In this way, the current flowing through the MOS transistor will be stable and has nothing to do with power level. The post simulation results show that the current supplied by the proposed circuit decreases only by 1.6% when the voltage of the power supply decreases by 30%. The simulations have proved that the proposed circuit can improve the performance of high-resolution CMOS image sensors.


2016 ◽  
Vol 255 ◽  
pp. 313-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Garnier ◽  
Hervé Fontaine

An extremely low level of metal contamination is required for specific devices like memories and CMOS Image sensors. Most of past work in the literature has focused on blanket wafer decontamination, since metrology is mostly adapted to flat surfaces. Metal removal efficiency has been compared between blanket wafers versus high aspect ratio deep trenches wafers. Two different metrology technics enable a quantitative and spatial metal removal determination on patterned wafers. Efficient cleaning in high aspect ratio structures requires much longer cleaning recipes than on flat surfaces.


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