Skip to main content

Nano-Black Coating on Silicon CMOS Image Sensors for Extreme Sensitivity

Closed

Closed

Prime contractor
Organisational Unit
Activity Type
Implementation progress
50%
12 July 2021

Duration: 12 months

Objective

We aim to develop CMOS image sensors with a novel nanostructured black silicon (b-Si) anti-reflection (AR) coating, which if successful would increase the quantum efficiency (QE) of silicon detectors to nearly 100% throughout the visible and NIR wavelengths, and even exceed 100% QE below 300 nm. For CMOS image sensors the nearly flat QE would be a breakthrough development, considering that traditional AR coatings are optimised only for a specific wavelength band. The study is needed to establish whether the b-Si process, presently used only on large area photodiodes, can be applied to established commercial backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS image sensors, manufactured by our industrial partner Teledyne e2v. We plan to characterise the QE over the wavelength range 350-1100 nm, using methods previously developed for the JANUS camera on ESA’s JUICE spacecraft, and to establish whether the b-Si coating deteriorates the uniformity of the photoresponse and the dark current of the sensors. If successful, this project will represent a major advance in AR technology for pixelated sensors and would substantially improve the performance of future silicon detectors with commercial applications in aerospace, medical and automotive sectors.

Contract number
4000135291
Programme
OSIP Idea Id
I-2020-04199
Related OSIP Campaign
Open Channel
Subcontractors
Teledyne UK Limited AALTO UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
Main application area
Science
Budget
100000€
Nano-Black Coating on Silicon CMOS Image Sensors for Extreme Sensitivity