Abstract

We developed a new 2.5 μm global shutter (GS) pixel using a 65 nm process with an advanced light pipe (LP) structure. This is the world’s smallest charge domain GS pixel reported so far. This new developed pixel platform is a key enabler for ultra-high resolution sensors, industrial cameras with wide aperture lenses, and low form factors optical modules for mobile applications. The 2.5 μm GS pixel showed excellent optical performances: 68% quantum efficiency (QE) at 530 nm, ±12.5 degrees angular response (AR), and quite low parasitic light sensitivity (PLS)—10,400 1/PLS with the F#2.8 lens. In addition, we achieved an extremely low memory node (MN) dark current 13 e−/s at 60 °C by fully pinned MN. Furthermore, we studied how the LP technology contributes to the improvement of the modulation transfer function (MTF) in near infrared (NIR) enhanced GS pixel. The 2.8 μm GS pixel using a p-substrate showed 109 lp/mm MTF@50% at 940 nm, which is 1.6 times better than that without an LP. The MTF can be more enhanced by the combination of the LP and the deep photodiode (PD) electrically isolated from the substrate. We demonstrated the advantage of using LP technology and our advanced stacked deep photodiode (SDP) technology together. This unique combination showed an improvement of more than 100% in NIR QE while maintaining an MTF that is close to the theoretical Nyquist limit (MTF @50% = 156 lp/mm).

Highlights

  • In recent years, there is a strong market demand for small pitch and high performance global shutter (GS) sensors, which can take images without distortion for fast-moving objects

  • TX1 is served as a control line for both a transfer gate from the PD to memory node (MN), and a storage gate over MN, in order to reduce a control line for the storage gate

  • We developed the world’s smallest 2.5 μm GS pixel using a 65 nm process with an advanced light pipe (LP)

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Summary

Introduction

There is a strong market demand for small pitch and high performance global shutter (GS) sensors, which can take images without distortion for fast-moving objects. This function is highly desirable for machine vision. Sensors 2020, 20, 307 in which charges generated in the PD are amplified in each pixel and stored in a capacitor as voltage [3,4].

Device Structure
Design Concept for Charge Domain
Memory Node Design
Optical Design
Experimental Result
Effect of Light Pipe on MTF with Near-Infrared Enhancement
Further MTF Improvement by Stacked Deep Photodiode Technology
Findings
Conclusions

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