Tema 9.

Sensores de imagen
CCD´s y CMOS

Light Emitting Diode: LED

 What is an Image Sensor?
• An Image Sensor is a photosensitive device that
converts light signals into digital signals (colours/RGB
data).

• Typically, the two main types in common use are CCD

and CMOS sensors and are mainly used in digital
cameras and other imaging devices.

• CCD stands for Charged-Coupled Device and CMOS

stands for Complementary Metal–Oxide–
Semiconductor
Uses?
• Image sensors are not only
limited to digital cameras.

• Image sensors are used in

other fields such as:
– Astronomy, most notably in the
Hubble Space Telescope
– Machine vision/sensing
– UV Spectroscopy
– Etc.
How Image Sensors Work
• Both CCD and CMOS sensors
work by employing
photosensitive circuitry that
reacts to light and stores the
analog signals as digital data,
namely an image.

• They both use different methods

to achieve this.

• First we will take a look at CCD

image sensors.
 CCD
• A CCD, or a Charged-Coupled Device, is a photosensitive analog
device that records light as a small electrical charge in each of its
pixels or cells. In essence a CCD is a collection of CCD cells.

• The signal captured by the CCD requires additional circuitry to

convert the analog light data into a readable digital signal.

• This is mainly layers of capacitors called Stages which act as a

way to transport the analog signal to an array of flip-flops which
store the data all controlled by a clock signal.

• This is the definition of an Analog Shift Register.

Kodak Kaf1401 Thick CCD MIT/LL CC1D20 Thinned CCD

 CCD
• When light strikes a CCD, it acquires an electrical charge
according to how much light has hit the particular CCD cell.

• Each CCD cell can transfer its charge to its neighboring cell
and then off to external circuitry.

• The charge is then read off by an analog-to-digital converter

as an integer on a range of 0 to 4095 for most modern DSLR
cameras. Lower ranges exist, such as 0-255, for lower quality
cameras.
A CMOS Sensor
 CMOS
• A CMOS, or Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor, each pixel has neighboring
transistors which locally perform the analog to digital
conversion.
• This difference in readout has many implications in
the overall organization and capability of the camera.
• Each one of these pixel sensors are called an Active
Pixel Sensor (APS).
 CMOS
• The imaging logic is integrated on a CMOS chip,
where a CCD is a modular imager that can be
replaced.

• APSs are transistor-based, which means that CMOS

chips can be cheaply manufactured on any standard
silicon production line.
 Pros and Cons
• CCD • CMOS

• Needs extra circuitry to • Higher cost to develop

convert to digital signal
• On-chip analog-to-digital
• High dynamic range of conversion
lighting
• Lower complexity on the
• Less noise due to less on- sensor leading to faster
chip circuitry image capture

• Reduced power
consumption
 CCDs

• Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) were invented in

October 19, 1969, by William S. Boyle and George E.
Smith at Bell Telephone Laboratories
(“A new semiconductor device concept has been
devised which shows promise of having wide
application”, article on Bell System Technical Journal,
49, 587-593 (April 1970).

• CCDs are electronic devices, which work by

converting light into electronic charge in a silicon
chip (integrated circuit). This charge is digitised and
stored as an image file on a computer.
 CCD structure
• Charges are moved in the CCD circuit by manipulating the
voltages on the gates of the capacitors so as to allow the
charge to spill from one capacitor to the next (thus the name
“charge-coupled” device)
• A charge detection amplifier detects the presence of the
charge packet, providing an output voltage that can be
processed
• The CCD is a serial device where charge packets are read one
at a time.
 CCD structure - 1

Image area
(exposed to light)

Charge motion
Parallel (vertical) registers

Pixel

Serial (horizontal) register

Output amplifier
Charge motion
masked area
(not exposed to light)
 Structure of a CCD 3.
The diagram shows a small section (a few pixels) of the image area of a CCD. This pattern is repeated.

Channel stops to define the columns of the image

Plan View Transparent

horizontal electrodes
to define the pixels
One pixel vertically. Also
used to transfer the
charge during readout

Electrode
Insulating oxide
n-type silicon
Cross section
p-type silicon
 Structure of a CCD 4.
Below the image area (the area containing the horizontal electrodes) is the ‘Serial register’ . This also
consists of a group of small surface electrodes. There are three electrodes for every column of the image area

Image Area

On-chip amplifier
Serial Register at end of the serial
register

Cross section of
serial register
Once again every third electrode is in the serial register connected together.
Photomicrograph of a corner of an EEV CCD
160mm

Image Area

Serial Register

Bus wires
Edge of
Silicon
Read Out Amplifier

The serial register is bent double to move the output amplifier away from the edge
of the chip. This useful if the CCD is to be used as part of a mosaic.The arrows
indicate how charge is transferred through the device.
 Structure of a CCD 6.

Photomicrograph of the on-chip amplifier of a Tektronix CCD and its circuit diagram.

Output Drain (OD)

20mm
Gate of Output Transistor

Output Source (OS) SW R RD OD

Output Node
Reset
Reset Drain (RD) Transistor

Summing Output
Well Node Output
Serial Register Electrodes Transistor
R

OS
Summing Well (SW)
Substrate
Last few electrodes in Serial Register
 Structure of a CCD
CCDs are are manufactured on silicon wafers using the same photo-lithographic techniques used
to manufacture computer chips. Scientific CCDs are very big ,only a few can be fitted onto a wafer.
This is one reason that they are so costly.

The photo below shows a silicon wafer with three large CCDs and assorted smaller devices. A CCD has
been produced by Philips that fills an entire 6 inch wafer! It is the worlds largest integrated circuit.

1478 x 4784 2k x 4k 1294 x 4186Don Groom LBNL

10.5 mm 15 mm 12 mm
“Bucket brigade” analogy
VERTICAL
RAIN (PHOTONS) CONVEYOR
BELTS
(CCD COLUMNS)

BUCKETS (PIXELS)

METERING
STATION
HORIZONTAL (OUTPUT
CONVEYOR BELT AMPLIFIER)
(SERIAL REGISTER)
Exposure finished, buckets now contain samples of rain.
Conveyor belt starts turning and transfers buckets.
Rain collected on the vertical conveyor is tipped into buckets on the horizontal conveyor.
Vertical conveyor stops.
Horizontal conveyor starts up and tips each bucket in turn into the metering station.
After each bucket has been measured, the metering station is emptied, ready for the next bucket
load.

`
A new set of empty buckets is set up on the horizontal conveyor and the process is repeated.
A CCD array imager.

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 Frame-Transfer CCD
Storage (masked) area Image area

Charge motion
Serial register

44
 Basic CCD functions
• Charge generation
photoelectric effect
• Charge collection
potential well
• Charge transfer
potential well
• Charge detection
sense node capacitance
 Potential Well - 1
Diode junction: the n-type layer contains an excess of electrons that diffuse into the p-layer. The p-
layer contains an excess of holes that diffuse into the n-layer (depletion region, region where
majority charges are ‘depleted’ relative to their concentrations well away from the junction’).
The diffusion creates a charge imbalance and induces an internal electric field (Buried Channel).

Electric potential

Potential along this line shown

in graph above.
n

Cross section through the thickness of the CCD

 Potential Well - 2
During integration of the image, one of the electrodes in each pixel is held at a positive potential. This
further increases the potential in the silicon below that electrode and it is here that the photoelectrons
are accumulated. The neighboring electrodes, with their lower potentials, act as potential barriers that
define the vertical boundaries of the pixel. The horizontal boundaries are defined by the channel stops.

Electric potential

Region of maximum
potential
n

p
 Charge collection in a CCD - 1
Photons entering the CCD create electron-hole pairs. The electrons are then attracted
towards the most positive potential in the device where they create ‘charge packets’.
Each packet corresponds to one pixel

boundary

boundary
incoming
photons

pixel

pixel
n-type silicon Electrode Structure
Charge packet
p-type silicon SiO2 Insulating layer
 Charge Transfer in a CCD 1.

In the following few slides, the implementation of the ‘conveyor belts’ as actual electronic
structures is explained.

The charge is moved along these conveyor belts by modulating the voltages on the electrodes
positioned on the surface of the CCD. In the following illustrations, electrodes colour coded red
are held at a positive potential, those coloured black are held at a negative potential.

1
2
3
 Charge Transfer in a CCD 2.
+5V

2 0V

-5V

+5V

1 0V

-5V
+5V

3 0V

-5V

1
2
3 Time-slice shown in diagram
 Charge Transfer in a CCD 3.
+5V

2 0V

-5V

+5V

1 0V

-5V
+5V

3 0V

-5V

1
2
3
 Charge Transfer in a CCD 4.
+5V

2 0V

-5V

+5V

1 0V

-5V
+5V

3 0V

-5V

1
2
3
 Charge Transfer in a CCD 5.
+5V

2 0V

-5V

+5V

1 0V

-5V
+5V

3 0V

-5V

1
2
3
 Charge Transfer in a CCD 6.
+5V

2 0V

-5V

+5V

1 0V

-5V
+5V

3 0V

-5V

1
2
3
 Charge Transfer in a CCD 7.
+5V

2 0V

-5V
Charge packet from subsequent pixel enters
+5V
from left as first pixel exits to the right.
1 0V

-5V
+5V

3 0V

-5V

1
2
3
 Charge Transfer in a CCD 8.
+5V

2 0V

-5V

+5V

1 0V

-5V
+5V

3 0V

-5V

1
2
3
 Pixel Size and Binning 14.

The charge from the first pixel is now stored on the summing well.

SW
1
2 Output
Node
3
 Pixel Size and Binning 15.

The serial register continues clocking.

SW
1
2 Output
Node
3
 Pixel Size and Binning 16.

SW
1
2 Output
Node
3
 Pixel Size and Binning 17.

The SW potential is set slightly higher than the serial register electrodes.

SW
1
2 Output
Node
3
 Pixel Size and Binning 18.

SW
1
2 Output
Node
3
 Pixel Size and Binning 19.

The charge from the second pixel is now transferred onto the SW. The binning is now complete
and the combined charge packet can now be dumped onto the output node (by pulsing the voltage
on SW low for a microsecond) for measurement.

Horizontal binning can also be done directly onto the output node if a SW is not present but this can
increase the read noise.
SW
1
2 Output
Node
3
 Pixel Size and Binning 20.

Finally the charge is dumped onto the output node for measurement

SW
1
2 Output
Node
3
 Performance functions
• Charge generation
Quantum Efficiency (QE), Dark Current
• Charge collection
full well capacity, pixels size, pixel uniformity,
defects, diffusion (Modulation Transfer
Function, MTF)
• Charge transfer
Charge transfer efficiency (CTE),
defects
• Charge detection
Readout Noise (RON), linearity
Photon absorption length

Semiconductor T (K)  (ECond – EVal) (eV) c (nm)

CdS 295 2.4 500
CdSe 295 1.8 700
GaAs 295 1.35 920
Si 295 1.12 1110
Ge 295 0.67 1850
PbS 295 0.42 2950
InSb 295 0.18 6900

c: beyond this wavelength

CCDs become insensitive.

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66
• A pixel represents a single point in an image, and for a CCD camera,
it's often defined by the optics of a much-reduced image area.
• A pixel comprises of three to four capacitors, or a size on the order of
10 microns, so the charge collection can have a higher potential
• 1024 x 1024 dot-matrix arrays are common with 4096 x 4096 now
readily available for commercial cameras.
• Good film has a resolution of only 2024 x 2024, high-quality film has
4048 x 4048 and very expensive film has a slightly higher than this.
• Film’s collection is non-linear, especially at low and high light
intensity so underexposure or overexposure is common.
• CCD signal collection is linear so what you see is what you get.
• Thus, modern CCDs are much better than film.

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How CCDs Record Colour
• Each CCD cell in the CCD array produces a
single value independent of colour.

• To make colour images, CCD cells are

organized in groups of four cells (making
one pixel) and a Bayer Filter is placed on
top of the group to allow only red light to
hit one of the four cells, blue light to hit
another and green light to hit the
remaining two.

• The reasoning behind the two green cells

is because the human eye is more
sensitive to green light and it is more
convenient to use a 4 pixel filter than a 3
pixel filter (harder to implement) and can
be compensated after a image capture
with something called white balance.

• Ex. A Bayer filter applied to the underlying

CCD pixel
 Noise Sources in a CCD Image

The main noise sources found in a CCD are :

1. READ NOISE.
Caused by electronic noise in the CCD output transistor and possibly also in the external circuitry.
Read noise places a fundamental limit on the performance of a CCD. It can be reduced at the
expense of increased read out time. Scientific CCDs have a readout noise of 2-3 electrons RMS.

2. DARK CURRENT.
Caused by thermally generated electrons in the CCD. Eliminated by cooling the CCD.

3. PHOTON NOISE.
Also called ‘Shot Noise’. It is due to the fact that the CCD detects photons. Photons arrive in an
unpredictable fashion described by Poissonian statistics. This unpredictability causes noise.

4. PIXEL RESPONSE NON-UNIFORMITY.

Defects in the silicon and small manufacturing defects can cause some pixels to have a higher
sensitivity than their neighbours. This noise source can be removed by ‘Flat Fielding’; an
image processing technique.