Photo-ASICs: integrated circuits for optical measurements using industrial CMOS technology

Cost-effective single-chip smart photosensors (photo-ASICs) have a wide range of applications in optical metrology systems. They may be realized through the integration of light-sensitive structures together with analog and digital electronic circuitry using a standard silicon process. Different optical sensing devices to be used as elements of such photo-ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) were fabricated in an industrial CMOS process. Various types of vertical photodiodes, a lateral photodiode, a position-sensitive device, linear surface-channel and buried-channel charge-coupled devices, and a bucker-brigade device have been designed, fabricated in multi-project wafer services at low cost, and characterized electrically and optically. The electrical and optical performance proved to be surprisingly good.<>