Charge-Coupled CMOS TDI Imager

A charge-coupled CMOS time delay and integration (TDI) imager is presented. CCD pixel arrays of varying sizes and configurations were monolithically integrated with CMOS peripheral circuits using a conventional 0.18 m CMOS technology with custom CCD process modules. A 5 m pixel variant with 256 TDI stages demonstrated a charge transfer efficiency (CTE) > 0.99999 per transfer and a full well capacity (FWC) > 30,000 electrons at a maximum TDI scan rate of 270 kHz. It also exhibited a non-linearity < 2%, a dark current density at 25C of 3.7 nA/cm2 and a peak responsivity of 14,000 (DN12b)/(nJ/cm) at 670 nm with capabilities of stage selection, bi-directional scanning and anti-blooming (AB) protection. The developed imager shows strong potentials to replace the traditional CCD-TDI imager in demanding applications including machine vision and remote sensing.