Imec has retained the image plane of conventional CMOS image sensors but replaced the optically inefficient filtering with an optical waveguide layer.
Waveguide-based color splitters for image sensors (Image: Imec)
By Peter Clarke
The IMEC research institute presented a development at the recent International Electron Devices Meeting that could be part of a game-changing new wave in image sensors.
It is well-known that memory and logic designers have wrestled with problems as circuit complexity has increased while planar geometry scaling has hit limits. The same is true, although for different reasons, for the CMOS image sensor.