Image Sensor Papers at IEDM 2017

IEDM 2017, to be held on Dec. 2-6 in San Francisco, publishes its agenda. Here is the list of image sensor related materials, starting from 3 Sony papers:

3.2 Pixel/DRAM/logic 3-layer stacked CMOS image sensor technology (Invited)
H. Tsugawa, H. Takahashi, R. Nakamura, T. Umebayashi, T. Ogita, H. Okano, K. Iwase, H. Kawashima, T. Yamasaki*, D. Yoneyama*, J. Hashizume, T. Nakajima, K. Murata, Y. Kanaishi, K. Ikeda*, K. Tatani, T. Nagano, H. Nakayama*, T. Haruta and T. Nomoto, Sony Semiconductor
We developed a CMOS image sensor (CIS) chip, which is stacked pixel/DRAM/logic. In this CIS chip, three Si substrates are bonded together, and each substrate is electrically connected by two-stacked through-silica vias (TSVs) through the CIS or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). We obtained low resistance, low leakage current, and high reliability characteristics of these TSVs. Connecting metal with TSVs through DRAM can be used as low resistance wiring for a power supply. The Si substrate of the DRAM can be thinned to 3 μm, and its memory retention and operation characteristics are sufficient for specifications after thinning. With this stacked CIS chip, it is possible to achieve less rolling shutter distortion and produce super slow motion video.

16.4 Near-infrared Sensitivity Enhancement of a Back-illuminated Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Image Sensor with a Pyramid Surface for Diffraction Structure
I. Oshiyama, S. Yokogawa, H. Ikeda, Y. Ebiko, T. Hirano, S. Saito, T. Oinoue, Y. Hagimoto, H. Iwamoto, Sony Semiconductor
We demonstrated the near-infrared (NIR) sensitivity enhancement of back-illuminated complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensors (BI-CIS) with a pyramid surface for diffraction (PSD) structures on crystalline silicon and deep trench isolation (DTI). The incident light diffracted on the PSD because of the strong diffraction within the substrate, resulting in a quantum efficiency of more than 30% at 850 nm. By using a special treatment process and DTI structures, without increasing the dark current, the amount of crosstalk to adjacent pixels was decreased, providing resolution equal to that of a flat structure. Testing of the prototype devices revealed that we succeeded in developing unique BI-CIS with high NIR sensitivity.

16.1 An Experimental CMOS Photon Detector with 0.5e- RMS Temporal Noise and 15µm pitch Active Sensor Pixels
T. Nishihara, M. Matsumura, T. Imoto, K. Okumura, Y. Sakano, Y. Yorikado, Y. Tashiro, H. Wakabayashi, Y. Oike and Y. Nitta, Sony Semiconductor
This is the first reported non-electron-multiplying CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) photon-detector for replacing Photo Multiplier Tubes (PMT). 15µm pitch active sensor pixels with complete charge transfer and readout noise of 0.5 e- RMS are arrayed and their digital outputs are summed to detect micro light pulses. Successful proof of radiation counting is demonstrated.

8.6 High-Performance, Flexible Graphene/Ultra-thin Silicon Ultra-Violet Image Sensor
A. Ali, K. Shehzad, H. Guo, Z. Wang*, P. Wang*, A. Qadir, W. Hu*, T. Ren**, B. Yu*** and Y. Xu, Zhejiang University
*Chinese Academy of Sciences, **Tsinghua University, ***State University of New York
We report a high-performance graphene/ultra-thin silicon metal-semiconductor-metal ultraviolet (UV) photodetector, which benefits from the mechanical flexibility and high-percentage visible light rejection of ultra-thin silicon. The proposed UV photodetector exhibits high photo-responsivity, fast time response, high specific detectivity, and UV/Vis rejection ratio of about 100, comparable to the state-of-the-art Schottky photodetectors

16.2 SOI monolithic pixel technology for radiation image sensor (Invited)
Y. Arai, T. Miyoshi and I. Kurachi, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)
SOI pixel technology is developed to realize monolithic radiation imaging device. Issues of the back-gate effect, coupling between sensors and circuits, and the TID effect have been solved by introducing a middle Si layer. A small pixel size is achieved by using the PMOS and NMOS active merge technique.

16.3 Back-side Illuminated GeSn Photodiode Array on Quartz Substrate Fabricated by Laser-induced Liquidphase Crystallization for Monolithically-integrated NIR Imager Chip
H. Oka, K. Inoue, T. T. Nguyen*, S. Kuroki*, T. Hosoi, T. Shimura and H. Watanabe, Osaka University, *Hiroshima University
Back-side illuminated single-crystalline GeSn photodiode array has been demonstrated on a quartz substrate for group-IVbased NIR imager chip. Owing to high crystalline quality of GeSn array formed by laser-induced liquid-phase crystallization technique, significantly enhanced NIR photoresponse with high responsivity of 1.3 A/W was achieved operated under backside illumination

16.5 Industrialised SPAD in 40 nm Technology
S. Pellegrini, B. Rae, A. Pingault, D. Golanski*, S. Jouan*, C. Lapeyre** and B. Mamdy*, STMicroelectronics,*TR&D, *CEA-Leti, Minatec
We present the first mature SPAD device in advanced 40 nm technology with dedicated microlenses. A high fill factor >70% is reported with a low DCR median of 50cps at room temperature and a high PDP of 5% at 840nm. This digital node is portable to a 3D stacked technology.

16.6 A Back-Illuminated 3D-Stacked Single-Photon Avalanche Diode in 45nm CMOS Technology
M.-J. Lee, A. R. Ximenes, P. Padmanabhan, T. J. Wang*, K. C. Huang*, Y. Yamashita*, D. N. Yaung* and E. Charbon
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), *Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)
We report on the world's first back-illuminated 3D-stacked single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) in 45nm CMOS technology. This SPAD achieves a dark count rate of 55.4cps/µm2, a maximum photon detection probability of 31.8% at 600nm, over 5% in the 420-920nm wavelength range, and timing jitter of 107.7ps at 2.5V excess bias voltage and room temperature. To the best of our knowledge, these are the best results ever reported for any back-illuminated 3D-stacked SPAD technology.

26.2 High-yield passive Si photodiode array towards optical neural recording
D. Mao, J. Morley, Z. Zhang, M. Donnelly, and G. Xu, *University of Massachusetts Amherst
We demonstrate a high yield, passive Si photodiode array, aiming to establish a miniaturized optical recording device for in-vivo use. Our fabricated array features high yield (>90%), high sensitivity (down to 32 μW/cm2), high speed (1000 frame per second by scanning over up to 100 pixels), and sub-10uW power.