Pixel Scaling in Automotive CMOS Image Sensors

In mobile and security markets solid state image sensor pixels have been shrinking for the last 4 decades. Continuous efforts in this area have been driven by the need for increased spatial resolution and reduced systems costs. In the 1980s the average solid state image sensor pixels were larger than 10um x 10um, but by 2023 the smallest pixels used in mobile phone sensors were only 0.56um x 0.56um.

Although the automotive market has many similarities to the mobile and security markets it is very different. There is currently a push to reduce pixel size in automotive CMOS image sensors but the design tradeoffs make this a difficult task. In this presentation we will discuss the key tradeoffs associated with scaling pixels in CMOS images sensors for automotive applications. These performance tradeoffs include resolution, high dynamic range, signal to noise ratio (SNR), low light sensitivity, LED flicker mitigation, readout speed, power, die size and cost.