High gain CMOS image sensor design and fabrication on SOI and bulk technology

Abstract

The CMOS imager is now competing with the CCD imager, which still dominates the electronic imaging market. By taking advantage of the mature CMOS technology, the CMOS imager can integrate A/D converters, digital signal processing (DSP) and timing control circuits on the same chip. This low cost and high-density integration solution to the image capture is the strong driving force in industry. Silicon on insulator (SOI) is considered as the coming mainstream technology. It challenges the current bulk CMOS technology because of its reduced power consumption, high speed, radiation hardness etc. Moving the CMOS imager from the bulk to the SOI substrate will benefit from these intrinsic advantages. In addition, the blooming and the cross-talk between the pixels of the sensor array can be ideally eliminated, unlike those on the bulk technology. Though there are many advantages to integrate CMOS imager on SOI, the problem is that the top silicon film is very thin, such as 2000A. Many photons can just pass through this layer without being absorbed. A good photo-detector on SOI is critical to integrate SOI CMOS imagers. In this thesis, several methods to make photo-detectors on SOI substrate are investigated. A floating gate MOSFET on SOI substrate, operating in its lateral bipolar mode, is photon sensitive. One step further, the SOI MOSFET gate and body can be tied together. The positive feedback between the body and gate enables this device have a high responsivity. A similar device can be found on the bulk CMOS technology: the gate-well tied PMOSFET. A 32✕32 CMOS imager is designed and characterized using such a device as the light-sensing element. I also proposed the idea of building hybrid active pixels on SOI substrate. Such devices are fabricated and characterized. The work here represents my contribution on the CMOS imager, especially moving the CMOS imager onto the SOI substrate.