Quick Search: Journal  Author  Title/Abstract  Vol./Year 

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 47 (2008) pp. 2761-2766  |Previous Article| |Next Article|  |Table of Contents|
|Full Text PDF (602K)| |Buy This Article|

High Sensitivity Dynamic Range Enhanced Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Imager with Noise Suppression

Satoru Adachi, Woonghee Lee1, Nana Akahane1, Hiromichi Oshikubo, Koichi Mizobuchi, and Shigetoshi Sugawa1

Texas Instruments Japan, Miho, Ibaraki 300-0496, Japan
1Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan

(Received September 28, 2007; accepted November 13, 2007; published online April 25, 2008)

In a high sensitivity complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor featuring a high conversion gain floating diffusion (FD) with a lateral overflow integration capacitor (LOFIC) in a pixel, the methods of the feedback noise suppression and the FD dark current reduction are discussed. The noise floor is found to be suppressed by introducing a small FD capacitance with the reduced feedback capacitance of a pixel source follower in accordance with a noise feedback theory. The reduction of the full well capacity due to the small FD capacitance causes the reduced tolerance for the FD dark current at the switching point from a low light signal (S1) to a bright light signal (S2). However it is solved by the reduction of the electric field concentrations at the FD in conjunction with the LOFIC capacitance optimization. A 1/4 in. video graphics array (VGA) format CMOS image sensor fabricated through 0.18 µm two-poly three-metal process demonstrates both 2.2 e- rms noise floor and an invisible signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio degradation at the S1/S2 switching point under 2 s integration time while the full well capacity is extended up to 100 ke-.

URL: http://jjap.jsap.jp/link?JJAP/47/2761/
DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.47.2761


|Full Text PDF (602K)| |Buy This Article| Citation:

References

  1. A. Krymski, N. Khaliullin, and H. Rhodes: Proc. IEEE Workshop Charge-Coupled Devices and Advanced Image Sensors, 2003.
  2. K. B. Cho, C. Lee, S. Eikedal, A. Baum, J. Jiang, C. Xu, X. Fan, and R. Kauffman: IEEE Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf. (ISSCC) Dig. Tech. Pap., 2007, p. 508.
  3. H. Takahashi, T. Noda, T. Matsuda, T. Watanabe, M. Shinohara, T. Endo, S. Takimoto, R. Mishima, S. Nishimura, K. Sakurai, H. Yuzurihara, and S. Inoue: IEEE Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf. (ISSCC) Dig. Tech. Pap., 2007, p. 510.
  4. M. Iwane, T. Matsuda, T. Sugai, K. Tazoe, T. Okagawa, T. Ono, T. Watanabe, K. Ogawa, H. Takahashi, and S. Inoe: Proc. Int. Image Sensor Workshop, 2007, p. 295.
  5. K. Yoon, C. Kim, B. Lee, and D. Lee: IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits 37 (2002) 1839.
  6. S. Yoshihara, M. Kikuchi, Y. Ito, Y. Inaba, S. Kuramochi, H. Wakabayashi, M. Okano, K. Koseki, H. Kuriyama, J. Inutsuka, A. Tajima, T. Nakajima, Y. Kudoh, F. Koga, Y. Kasagi, S. Watanabe, and T. Nomoto: IEEE Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf. (ISSCC) Dig. Tech. Pap., 2006, p. 492.
  7. Y. C. Kim, Y. T. Kim, S. H. Choi, H. K. Kong, S. I. Hwang, J. H. Ko, B. S. Kim, T. Asaba, S. H. Lim, J. S. Hahn, J. H. Im, T. S. Oh, D. M. Yi, J. M. Lee, W. P. Yang, J. C. Ahn, E. S. Jung, and Y. H. Lee: IEEE Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf. (ISSCC) Dig. Tech. Pap., 2006, p. 494.
  8. J. Yang, K. G. Fife, L. Brooks, C. G. Sodini, A. Betts, P. Mudunuru, and H. S. Lee: IEEE Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf. (ISSCC) Dig. Tech. Pap., 2006, p. 496.
  9. Y. Nitta, Y. Muramatsu, K. Amano, T. Toyama, J. Yamamoto, K. Mishina, A. Suzuki, T. Taura, A. Kato, M. Kikuchi, T. Yasui, H. Nomura, and N. Fukushima: IEEE Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf. (ISSCC) Dig. Tech. Pap., 2006, p. 500.
  10. Y. Lim, K. Lee, H. Hong, J. Kim, S. Sa, J. Lee, D. Kim, and J. Hynecek: Proc. 2007 Int. Image Sensor Workshop, 2007, p. 311.
  11. A. Tournier, F. Roy, G. N. Lu, and B. Deschamps: Proc. 2007 Int. Image Sensor Workshop, 2007, p. 315.
  12. X. Liu, B. Fowler, H. Do, S. Mims, D. Laxson, and B. Frymire: Proc. 2007 Int. Image Sensor Workshop, 2007, p. 327.
  13. S. Adachi, W. Lee, N. Akahane, H. Oshikubo, K. Mizobuchi, and S. Sugawa: Symp. VLSI Circuits, 2007, p. 142.
  14. S. Adachi, S. Sugawa, N. Akahane, K. Mori, T. Ishiuchi, and K. Mizobuchi: Proc. IEEE Workshop Charge-Coupled Devices and Advanced Image Sensors, 2005, p. 153.
  15. H. T. Friis: Proc. IRE 32 (1944) 419.
  16. O. Yadid-Pecht, K. Mansoorian, E. R. Fossum, and B. Pain: Proc. SPIE 3019 (1997) 125[AIP Scitation].
  17. S. Sugawa, N. Akahane, S. Adachi, K. Mori, T. Ishiuchi, and K. Mizobuchi: IEEE Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf. (ISSCC) Dig. Tech. Pap., 2005, p. 352.
  18. N. Akahane, S. Sugawa, S. Adachi, K. Mori, T. Ishiuchi, and K. Mizobuchi: IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits 41 (2006) 851.
|TOP|  |Previous Article| |Next Article|  |Table of Contents| |JJAP Home|
Copyright © 2013 The Japan Society of Applied Physics
Contact Information