Image sensors using thin-film absorbers

Paweł E. Malinowski; Vladimir Pejović; Itai Lieberman; Joo Hyoung Kim; Abu Bakar Siddik; Abu Bakar Siddik; Epimitheas Georgitzikis; Myung Jin Lim; Luis Moreno Hagelsieb; Yannick Hermans; Isabel Pintor Monroy; Wenya Song; Shreya Basak; Shreya Basak; Robert Gehlhaar; Florian De Roose; Aris Siskos; Aris Siskos; Nikolas Papadopoulos; Steven Thijs; Tom Vershooten; Naresh Chandrasekaran; Yunlong Li; Philippe Soussan; Jan Genoe; Jan Genoe; Paul Heremans; Paul Heremans; Jiwon Lee; David Cheyns

doi:10.1364/AO.485552

Applied Optics
Vol. 62,
Issue 17,
pp. F21-F30
(2023)
•https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.485552

Image sensors using thin-film absorbers

Paweł E. Malinowski, Vladimir Pejović, Itai Lieberman, Joo Hyoung Kim, Abu Bakar Siddik, Epimitheas Georgitzikis, Myung Jin Lim, Luis Moreno Hagelsieb, Yannick Hermans, Isabel Pintor Monroy, Wenya Song, Shreya Basak, Robert Gehlhaar, Florian De Roose, Aris Siskos, Nikolas Papadopoulos, Steven Thijs, Tom Vershooten, Naresh Chandrasekaran, Yunlong Li, Philippe Soussan, Jan Genoe, Paul Heremans, Jiwon Lee, and David Cheyns

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Paweł E. Malinowski, Vladimir Pejović, Itai Lieberman, Joo Hyoung Kim, Abu Bakar Siddik, Epimitheas Georgitzikis, Myung Jin Lim, Luis Moreno Hagelsieb, Yannick Hermans, Isabel Pintor Monroy, Wenya Song, Shreya Basak, Robert Gehlhaar, Florian De Roose, Aris Siskos, Nikolas Papadopoulos, Steven Thijs, Tom Vershooten, Naresh Chandrasekaran, Yunlong Li, Philippe Soussan, Jan Genoe, Paul Heremans, Jiwon Lee, and David Cheyns, "Image sensors using thin-film absorbers," Appl. Opt. 62, F21-F30 (2023)

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Abstract

Image sensors are must-have components of most consumer electronics devices. They enable portable camera systems, which find their way into billions of devices annually. Such high volumes are possible thanks to the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) platform, leveraging wafer-scale manufacturing. Silicon photodiodes, at the core of CMOS image sensors, are perfectly suited to replicate human vision. Thin-film absorbers are an alternative family of photoactive materials, distinguished by the layer thickness comparable with or smaller than the wavelength of interest. They allow design of imagers with functionalities beyond Si-based sensors, such as transparency or detectivity at wavelengths above Si cutoff (e.g., short-wave infrared). Thin-film image sensors are an emerging device category. While intensive research is ongoing to achieve sufficient performance of thin-film photodetectors, to our best knowledge, there have been few complete studies on their integration into advanced systems. In this paper, we will describe several types of image sensors being developed at imec, based on organic, quantum dot, and perovskite photodiode and show their figures of merit. We also discuss the methodology for selecting the most appropriate sensor architecture (integration with thin-film transistor or CMOS). Application examples based on imec proof-of-concept sensors are demonstrated to showcase emerging use cases.

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Figure of Merit	Abbreviation	Unit	Target	Comment
Material
Chemical composition	–	%	$\sim$	Elemental % (stoichiometry) by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Absorption coefficient	$α$	$c m^{- 1}$	↑	Extent of exponential decay of incoming light intensity through the material
Optical bandgap	Eg	eV	$\sim$	From optical absorption/ellipsometry
Energy structure	HOMO/LUMO	eV	$\sim$	Valence band position from ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy with Eg gives complete film energy structure
Surface roughness	–	nm	↓	Deviations of the surface’s texture
Film uniformity	–	%	↓	Deviations of film thickness
Photodiode
Area	$A$	$µ m^{2}$	$\sim$	Active area capturing photons
Bias voltage	$V$	$V$	$\sim$	Voltage at which figures of merit are quoted
Dark current density	$J_{D A R K}$	$A / {c m}^{2}$	↓	Signal with no illumination (at specific bias voltage)
Photocurrent density	$J_{P H O T O}$	$A / {c m}^{2}$	↑	Signal with illumination (at specific wavelength and bias voltage)
Responsivity	$R$	A/W	↑	Electrical output per optical input
Noise equivalent power	NEP	$W$	↓	Lowest irradiance yielding SNR of 1
Detectivity	$D^{*}$	Jones ( $c m \cdot H z^{0.5} / W$ )	↑	Reciprocal of NEP, normalized for sensor area and frequency bandwidth
External quantum efficiency	EQE	%	↑	Percentage of photons contributing to the collected signal
Rise time	$τ_{R}$	$s$	↓	Time for signal to go from low/high to high/low (typically 10%/90% for PD, 0.04%/99.96% for imagers)
Fall time	$τ_{F}$	$s$	↓
Image sensor
Resolution	–	$M P x$	↑	Number of pixels in the array
Pixel pitch	–	µm	$\sim$	Period of repeating individual imager pixels
Fill factor	FF	%	$\sim$	Percentage of the photo-active area in a pixel versus total pixel area
Conversion gain	CG	$V / e^{-}$	$\sim$	Voltage signal conversion ratio per charge carrier generated from PD
Dynamic range	DR	dB	↑	Highest versus lowest detectable signal
Full-well capacity	FWC	$e^{-}$	↑	Maximum storable number of charge carriers in the pixel
Dark read noise	RN	$e^{-}$	↓	Temporal noise in dark, which defines the minimum detectable signal level
Fixed pattern noise	FPN	% or $e^{-}$	↓	Spatial variation in pixel output values
Photoresponse nonuniformity	PRNU	%	↓	Spatial variation in response to a uniform light source
Dark signal nonuniformity	DSNU	%	↓	Spatial variation in pixel output values without illumination
Frame rate	FPS	fps	$\sim$	Frames per second

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Applied Optics