Modelling and characterization of small photosensors in advanced CMOS technologies

Abstract

The rapid scaling of CMOS technologies and the development of optimized CIS (CMOS Image Sensor) processes for CMOS vision products has not been met by a similar effort in a comprehensive study of the main physical phenomena dominating the behavior of pixels at these technological nodes. This work provides a study of the behaviour of small photodetectors in advanced CMOS technologies in order to evaluate the impact of the geometry on the pixel photoresponse. Several models were developed paying special attention to the peripheral collection. The results suggest that the largest active area no longer necessarily guarantees the optimum response and show the significance of the lateral contribution for small photodiodes. That is, they establish the need to find a trade-off between the active area and the collecting area surrounding the junction to maximize the response. Based on the solution of the two-dimensional steady-state equation in the surroundings of the junction, an analytical model for uniformly illuminated p-n+ junction photodiodes was proposed. It is compact, general and scalable. In order to be used in Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools, the model was implemented in a Hardware Description Language (HDL) and used for circuit simulations to illustrate the potential of the model for the optimization of the pixel performance.