Backside illuminated (BSI) complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors

This chapter reviews modern manufacturing techniques for backside illuminated (BSI) CMOS image sensors (CISs). It presents a thorough discussion regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the front illuminated CIS throughout different CMOS fabrication nodes and introduces a historical review, state-of-the-art discussion on the technological issues as well as on the applications and performance of back illuminated imagers. The chapter discusses all the relevant state-of-the-art issues of the imagers in both, commercial applications and high-performance scientific and industrial niche applications.