Advances in Wafer Level Processing and Integration for CIS Module Manufacturing

This article presents the advances in wafer-level processing and integration techniques for CMOS image sensor module manufacturing. CMOS image sensors gave birth to the low-cost, high-volume camera phone market and are being adopted for various high-end applications. The backside illumination technique has significant advantages over the front-side illumination due to separation of the optical path from the metal interconnects. Wafer bonding plays a key role in manufacturing backside illuminated sensors. The cost-effective integration of miniaturized cameras in various handheld devices becomes realized through the introduction of CMOS image sensor modules or camera modules manufactured with wafer-level processing and integration techniques. We developed various technologies enabling wafer-level processing and integration, such as (a) wafer-to-wafer permanent bonding with oxide or polymer layers for manufacturing backside illuminated sensor wafers, (b) wafer-level lens molding and stacking based on UV impr...