A low dark current double membrane poly-Si FT-technology for 2/3 inch 6M pixel CCD imagers

Abstract

A 2/3 inch optical format 6M pixel FF-CCD image sensor with pixel dimensions of 3/spl times/3 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ is reported for the first time. To realize a low dark current of 800 pA/cm/sup 2/ at 60/spl deg/C, a high charge handling capacity of 40 kel/pixel, and a high dynamic range of 63 dB, this sensor uses the following key processing technologies: 1) an adapted and improved (in comparison to previously reported work) double membrane poly-Si gate technology with ND processing, 2) an improved supply of hydrogen to the active Si/SiO/sub 2/ interface, 3) an optimized front-end technology.