Vertical integration of hydrogenated amorphous silicon devices on CMOS circuits

Abstract

AbstractMonolithic integration of sensing devices usually requires sharing the CMOS chip floor space between sensors and their readout electronics. Vertical integration of the sensor on top of the electronics allows one to have the full chip area dedicated to sensing. For light detection, the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) photodiodes on top of CMOS readout circuits offers several advantages compared to standard CMOS imagers. The issues regarding the design of a-Si:H photodiodes, their integration and the influence of the CMOS chip design (i.e. its surface morphology) on a-Si:H diode performance are discussed. Examples of TFA sensors for vision and particle detection are also presented.