A Study of Stray Minority Carrier Diffusion in CMOS Image Sensors

• Published in: IEEE electron device letters Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 341 - 343
• Main Authors: LIN, Dong-Long, WANG, Ching-Chun, WEI, Chia-Ling
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.04.2008; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Circuit noise; Circuit testing; CMOS; CMOS digital integrated circuits; CMOS image sensors; CMOS technology; Diffusion; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Image sensors; Imaging devices; Integrated circuit technology; Minority carriers; MOSFETs; Noise; Penetration depth; Pixel; Semiconductor devices; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Sensor arrays; single-chip CMOS image sensors; stray minority carrier diffusion; Transistors; stray minority carrier diffusion; single-chip CMOS image sensors; Penetration depth; Image quality; Minority carrier; Charge carrier scattering; CMOS image sensors; MOS transistor; Sensor array; NMOS technology; Switching

Noise minimization is an important issue for a single-chip CMOS image sensor. Stray minority carriers diffusing from the circuit region to the sensor array through the substrate are one possible source of noise. To study this effect, an nMOS transistor was deliberately placed close to the sensor arr...