Abstract
A charge multiplication CMOS image sensor was developed that has a 10μm pixel pitch and CIF format. This sensor has an electric charge multiplication electrode unit just behind the photodiode of each pixel, which repeatedly performs impact ionization against a photoelectrically-converted signal charge for the charge multiplication. A prototype sensor was used to evaluate the multiplication characteristics and it showed that the sensor can provide excellent signal amplification control in accordance with the repeated number of impact ionizations and the voltage applied to the charge multiplication electrode. This evaluation also showed that the spatial noise does not increase in relation to the signal amplification. In addition, the sensor yields a clearer image and a significantly higher S/N in a 0.4 lx low-light environment, in comparison with non-multiplying using charge multiplication of approx. 60 times in 100μs.
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