Shin Kikuchi

A 300mm wafer-size CMOS image sensor with in-pixel voltage-gain amplifier and column-level differential readout circuitry

Large-format image sensors provide us with a new form of vision in several areas such as astronomy and industry. The sensors commonly comprise thin-film transistors (TFTs) and photodiodes (PDs) on amorphous silicon. The capabilities of the amorphous silicon sensors, however, are insufficient due to the low carrier mobility of the TFTs. Recently several large-format CCDs [1] and CMOS image sensors [2,3] have been developed on crystal silicon wafers for faster readout speed, reduced image lag, high sensitivity and reduced noise.