Modeling and Characterizing Optical CMOS Sensors for Biomedical Low-Intensity Light Detection

Author

Kamrani, Ehsan ; Hamady, M. ; Lesage, Frederic ; Sawan, Mohamad

Author_Institution

Electr. Eng. Dept., Polytech. Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

fYear

2013

fDate

3-5 May 2013

Firstpage

83

Lastpage

84

Abstract

In this work several photo-sensors include silicon PIN photodiode and avalanche photodiodes (SiAPDs) are addressed to develop a miniaturized near-infrared photo-sensor with high-sensitivity, low-power and low-noise characteristics using CMOS technology dedicated to biomedical imaging applications. These devices have been characterized and compared using different device simulators include COMSOL, TCAD, MATLAB, Crosslight-APSYS and Silvaco. The impact of simulation and reliability of the simulation results are evaluated by considering the measurement results. The sources of observed discrepancies between simulated and measured characteristics are discussed. Then a reliable technique to use device simulators and photo-sensor modeling results, is proposed based on our previous design, simulation and fabrication experiences. A new equivalent circuit model for SiAPD is also developed to be applied in circuit level simulations.

Keywords

CMOS image sensors; avalanche photodiodes; biomedical optical imaging; equivalent circuits; infrared detectors; p-i-n photodiodes; COMSOL; Crosslight-APSYS; MATLAB; Silvaco; TCAD; avalanche photodiode; biomedical imaging; biomedical low intensity light detection; equivalent circuit model; miniaturized near infrared photosensor; optical CMOS sensor; reliability; silicon PIN photodiode; CMOS integrated circuits; Electric breakdown; Electric fields; Fabrication; Integrated circuit modeling; Semiconductor device modeling; Tunneling; CMOS Sensor; Light Detection; Modeling; Photodiode; Silicon avalanche photodiode (SiAPD); Simulation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Biomedical Engineering Conference (SBEC), 2013 29th Southern

Conference_Location

Miami, FL

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-0624-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SBEC.2013.50

Filename

6525687