A 1/2.33-inch 14.6M 1.4μm-pixel backside-illuminated CMOS image sensor with floating diffusion boosting

As pixel sizes continue to scale down, backside-illuminated (BSI) technology has been recently adopted as a solution to improve pixel SNR performance [1,2]. In addition, as the application of image sensors widens from digital still cameras to digital camcorders, high-resolution and high-speed operation are required. This paper presents 1/2.33-inch 14.6Mpixel CMOS image sensor employing a 1.4μm BSI pixel architecture with a floating-diffusion (FD) boosting scheme that enables high SNR and high speed read-out.