Integration of photonics components in state-of-the-art CMOS technology

CMOS image sensors (CIS) are becoming ubiquitous these days, but they still lack some fundamental ingredients of high-sensitivity imaging: low dark current, high quantum efficiency and high optical fill factor combined with CMOS signal-processing capabilities. Although these limitations are a nuisance in consumer products, they present fundamental limitations in industrial sensors and scientific instrumentation. It has been concluded from previous attempts to fundamentally change the behavior of CIS technologies that there is a need to drastically change the way of producing CMOS imagers. Espros Photonics Corp. has been founded in early 2007 to realize some of these concepts in order to provide a European technology platform in CMOS-integrated photonics. We will present the fundamental concepts together with specific examples as well as the potentials for users of this technology platform whose inherent goal is to reach the single-photon detection limit in CMOS image sensing.