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Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Pixel Sensors

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Handbook of Particle Detection and Imaging

Abstract

CMOS pixel sensors (called CPS hereafter) have become a prominent technological option for vertex and tracking detectors composing elementary particle and heavy ion physics experiments. They also received attention for electromagnetic calorimetry. This emergence in the field finds its origin in the evolution of ASIC industry in the last decades and in the pioneering use of CPS for light imaging in the 1990s.

The technology is particularly attractive as it allows for very fine-grained and thin pixelated sensors incorporating most, if not all, of the signal processing microcircuit chain. It became therefore a favorite candidate for vertex detectors and, since more recently, for larger area tracking devices.

CMOS industry is not supposed to fabricate ASICs suited for charged particle detection, in particular because the latter requires a detection volume featuring low doping and a thickness exceeding typically 10 μm. However, its evolution has found a market driven by light imaging applications, which requires manufacturing parameters often adapted to charged particle detection.

This chapter is intended to provide basic understanding of the technical aspects of CPS as well as the performances achieved with existing devices equipping instruments used in subatomic physics. These aspects are complemented with an overview of the trend followed by present R&D and the prospect of the technology associated with the progress of industrial ASIC fabrication.

CPS are developed for a variety of experimental conditions. These may allow privileging the physics-driven performances (spatial resolution, material budget) which exploit the most prominent assets of CPS. In some other cases, priority has to be given to particularly demanding running conditions at the expense of physics-driven requirements. The first case provides the common thread of this chapter, which concentrates on applications where the CPS approach has provided a breakthrough in experimental sensitivity when compared to its alternatives such as hybrid pixel sensors and silicon strips.

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Abbreviations

ADC:

Analog-to-digital converter

ASIC:

Application-specific integrated circuit

CDS:

Correlated double sampling

CMOS:

Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor

CPS:

CMOS monolithic active pixel sensor

DAC:

Digital-to-analog converter

ENC:

Equivalent noise charge

FET:

Field-effect transistor

MAPS:

CMOS monolithic active pixel sensor

M.I.P.:

Minimum ionizing particle

MOSFET:

Metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor

N-MOS transistor:

N-channel metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor

P-MOS transistor:

P-channel metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor

RTS:

Random telegraph signal

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Subatomic Physics, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), 67037 Strasbourg Cedex 2, France

    Marc Winter

  2. Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH (GSI), 64291 Darmstadt, Germany

    Michael Deveaux

Authors
  1. Marc Winter
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  2. Michael Deveaux
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marc Winter .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Particle Physics, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany

    Ivor Fleck

  2. IRFU, CEA Saclay IRFU, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Maxim Titov

  3. Universität Siegen FB Physik, Siegen, Germany

    Claus Grupen

  4. Labo. Imagerie et Modélisation en Neurobiologie et Cancérologie (IMNC), Université Paris-Sud XI CNRS UMR 8165, Orsay CX, France

    Irène Buvat

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Winter, M., Deveaux, M. (2021). Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Pixel Sensors. In: Fleck, I., Titov, M., Grupen, C., Buvat, I. (eds) Handbook of Particle Detection and Imaging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47999-6_55-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47999-6_55-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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