Optical limitations to cell size reduction in IT-CCD image sensors

Author

Satoh, Takashi ; Mutoh, Nobuhiko ; Furumiya, Masayuki ; Murakami, Ichiro ; Suwazono, Shinobu ; Ogawa, Chihiro ; Hatano, Keisuke ; Utsumi, Hiroaki ; Kawai, Shinichi ; Arai, Kouichi ; Morimoto, Michihiro ; Orihara, Kozo ; Tamura, Takao ; Teranishi, Nobukazu

Author_Institution

Syst. Micro Div, NEC Corp., Kanagawa, Japan

Volume

44

Issue

10

fYear

1997

fDate

10/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1599

Lastpage

1603

Abstract

We have determined the practical limits of cell size reduction in interline-transfer charge-coupled device (IT-CCD) image sensors, which result from diffraction occurring at the aperture above the photodiode. We have found that image cell size cannot be reduced to a level for which aperture width would fall below about 0.2 μm. We have also found, however that image cells with greater than 0.2 μm aperture size are sensitive over the entire wavelength range of visible light, and that sensitivity can be increased by thinning the photoshield film

Keywords

CCD image sensors; high definition television; light diffraction; photodiodes; 0.2 mum; HDTV; IT-CCD image sensors; aperture; aperture size; cell size reduction; diffraction; image cell size; interline-transfer charge-coupled device; optical limitations; photodiode; photoshield film thinning; practical limits; sensitivity; visible light wavelength range; Apertures; Diffraction; Digital cameras; HDTV; Image sensors; Lenses; National electric code; Optical films; Optical sensors; Photodiodes;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.628810

Filename

628810