Embedded Near-Infrared Sensor With Tunable Sensitivity for Nanoscale CMOS Technologies

Near-infrared (NIR) sensors has become one of the key components in applications, such as temperature, proximity, and even fingerprint sensing. A novel full-CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) compatible near-infrared sensor is proposed and demonstrated in this article. This sensing device consists of a gateless transistor, enabling near-infrared photon absorption in the channel region. With a tunable channel barrier, this near-IR sensor also features a dynamic photo-response with an extending sensing range up to 60 dB.