Establishment of a CMOS image sensor with photon countable sensitivity, linear response and high full well capacity

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H02245
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Electron device/Electronic equipment
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Sugawa Shigetoshi 東北大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (70321974)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 黒田 理人 東北大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (40581294)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 電子デバイス・機器 / センシングデバイス / 撮像素子 / フォトンカウンティング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Toward the establishment of a CMOS image sensor with photon countable sensitivity and high full well capacity with linear response, capable of clearly capturing image shooting targets over 5 decade of light illumination conditions, an ultra-high sensitivity signal readout technology was developed in this research based on formerly developed CMOS image sensors with lateral overflow integration capacitor (LOFIC). By the minimization of capacitance of floating diffusion that convert photo-electrons to voltage signal and the introduction of multiple gain column parallel amplifiers, a very low input-referred noise performance of 0.47 electrons was achieved. Moreover, signal readout noise of input-referred 0.2 electron and full well capacity of 50,000 electrons are estimated to be obtained by introducing multi sampling readout scheme of pixel signals and lowering thermal noise of signal readout chain.

Free Research Field

固体電子工学