Characterization of "blinking pixels" in CMOS Image Sensors

CMOS image sensors have increasingly replaced the use of charge coupled devices (CCD) in consumer devices because of lower power consumption, lower system cost, and the ability to randomly access data. However, one disadvantage of CMOS image sensors when compared to CCDs is increased noise signal, especially under low illumination conditions. Part of this noise is associated with leakage current or "dark current", the carrier generation that occurs when no illumination is present. Hence, minimizing and characterizing dark current is important for improving the performance of CMOS image sensors.