Displacement Damage Effects Due to Neutron and Proton Irradiations on CMOS Image Sensors Manufactured in Deep Submicron Technology

Displacement damage effects due to proton and neutron irradiations of CMOS image sensors dedicated to imaging are presented through the analysis of the dark current behavior in pixel arrays and isolated photodiodes. The mean dark current increase and the dark current nonuniformity are investigated. Dark current histogram observations are compared to damage energy distributions based on GEANT 4 calculations. We also discuss, through annealing analysis, which defects could be responsible for the dark current in CMOS image sensors.