Minimum Detectable Photocurrent- Image sensor- Post Layout simulation- cadence

[e245]

Hello everyone,

How can I find minimum detectable photo-current value? (in Cadence, Post Layout simulation of a 3T-APS image sensor)

the more i try, the less i succeed :sad:.
Thanks in advance.

 

[dick_freebird]

This is a many-layered question and one which simulation
can only approximate.

Minimum detectable, vs minimum -reliably- detectable, just
by itself, has dark current, telegraph noise, detector circuitry
threshold / noise contribution aspects. Not that almost all of
these push into areas that often are poorly modeled or not
well modelable (dark current and RTN being extremely process
and device-construction-details variable).

Without preceding material characterization, the models have
a pretty poor chance of being good for anything but basic
functionality. How broad based and production-relevant
that material, and how diligent, process-comprehensive and
accurate the modeling, that would be between you and the
foundry.

 

[e245]

Thank you.
How can I approximate minimum current in simulation? I need it for my thesis.
I used DFT. If we say: for photo-currents bigger than minimum photo-current, the pixel can distinguish between the signal and the noise. Should I use rms noise voltage in 1 Hz or in whole of the bandwidth?(or any other simpler method?!)