Displacement damage effects on CMOS APS image sensors induced by neutron irradiation from a nuclear reactor

The experiments of displacement damage effects on CMOS APS image sensors induced by neutron irradiation from a nuclear reactor are presented. The CMOS APS image sensors are manufactured in the standard 0.35 μm CMOS technology. The flux of neutron beams was about 1.33 × 108 n/cm2s. The three samples were exposed by 1 MeV neutron equivalent-fluence of 1 × 1011, 5 × 1011, and 1 × 1012 n/cm2, respectively. The mean dark signal (KD), dark signal spike, dark signal non-uniformity (DSNU), noise (VN), saturation output signal voltage (VS), and dynamic range (DR) versus neutron fluence are investigated. The degradation mechanisms of CMOS APS image sensors are analyzed. The mean dark signal increase due to neutron displacement damage appears to be proportional to displacement damage dose. The dark images from CMOS APS image sensors irradiated by neutrons are presented to investigate the generation of dark signal spike.