Fabrication of a CMOS-based Imaging Chip with Monolithically Integrated RGB and NIR Filters

Abstract

Recent developments in multispectral cameras have demonstrated how compact and low-cost spectral sensors can be made by monolithically integrating filters on top of commercially available image sensors. In this paper, the fabrication of a RGB + NIR variation to such a single-chip imaging system is described, including the integration of a metallic shield to minimize crosstalk, and two interference filters: a NIR blocking filter, and a NIR bandpass filter. This is then combined with standard polymer based RGB colour filters. Fabrication of this chip is done in imec’s 200 mm cleanroom using standard CMOS technology, except for the addition of RGB colour filters and microlenses, which is outsourced.

Keywords

• CMOS image sensor
• monolithic integration
• optical filters
• multispectral imaging
• RGB
• NIR