Compact Modeling of Charge Transfer in Pinned Photodiodes for CMOS Image Sensors

In this paper, we propose a physics-based compact model of the pinned photodiode (PPD) combined with the transfer gate. A set of analytical expressions is derived for the 2-D electrostatic profile, the PPD capacitance, and the charge transfer current. The proposed model relies on the thermionic emission current mechanism, the barrier modulation, and the full-depletion approximation to obtain the charge transfer current. The proposed physics-based model is fully validated with technology computer-aided design simulations, i.e., stationary and optoelectrical simulations. The development of such a compact model for PPD represents an essential step toward the design, simulation, and optimization of PPD-based pixels in CMOS image sensors.