Active pixel sensor readout circuit using indium-tin-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors for image sensor applications

In this study, we describe an active pixel sensor (APS) readout circuit using indium-tin-zinc-oxide (ITZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). The APS readout circuit with a pixel size of 90 mu m was fabricated using ITZO TFTs with a channel length of 2 mu m, and its performance was experimentally evaluated. The ITZO TFTs were found to have good low-frequency noise performance with an extracted Hooge's parameter (alpha(H)) of 3.5 x 10(-3), and the APS exhibits a high DC voltage gain of similar to 0.81 with satisfactory linearity in a wide output voltage range of similar to 6.4 V as well as manageable response times of less than 15 mu s. The obtained results show the potential of our APS circuits to be applied to TFT-based image sensors with enhanced image quality. (c) 2021 The Japan Society of Applied Physics