Degradation-free MOS image sensor with photonic crystal color filter

This letter demonstrates a long-term reliable MOS image sensor equipped with a novel photonic crystal color filter (PC-CF). PCs are periodically structured dielectric media, generally possessing a photonic band gap. In the newly developed PC-CF, it is clarified that the desirable spectral property, i.e., peak wavelength and spectral passband, can be achieved by modifying the thicknesses of the defect layers, which act just like a "defect" in a PC. The spectral characteristics with the peak wavelengths at 450 (blue), at 530 (green), and at 610 nm (red) are realized in this letter. Moreover, the fabricated image sensor guarantees high reliability of longer than 200 000 h and heat resistance of above 300 /spl deg/C.