Very Low Dark Current CCD Image Sensor

Very low dark current in charge-coupled-device image sensors is established by means of multipinned phase combined with vertical antiblooming, so-called all-gates pinning. Hereby, dark-current generation at the surface and diffusion from the bulk are suppressed. Using a conventional 6 times 6 mum
²
image pixel with an additional n-type implant, a dark-current level of 1.5 pA/cm
²
is obtained at 60degC without loss of optical performance. This means that the pixel dark current is reduced by a factor 80.