What is Dark current?

Current that flows in a photodiode even without light, caused for example by thermal generation of carriers. It rises with temperature and appears as noise in dark images.

Field: Image sensors and optical devices

Dark current in the explanations

Questions that mention Dark current (6)

  1. Which correctly describes dark current in an image sensor?
  2. What is the process called in which electrons and holes recombine through deep levels (traps) in the band gap?
  3. How is a photodiode generally used to detect light?
  4. In the buried (pinned) photodiode of a CMOS image sensor, what is the main purpose of the heavily doped p+ layer at the surface?
  5. What is the noise called that appears the same way at the same positions every time because of pixel-to-pixel variation in characteristics?
  6. What is the main purpose of deep trench isolation (DTI), in which deep trenches filled with insulators are formed between fine pixels?

Related terms

Photodiode Interface states Band gap SRH recombination (Shockley-Read-Hall recombination) Junction capacitance (depletion capacitance) CMOS image sensor Fixed-pattern noise Correlated double sampling (CDS) Thermal noise (Johnson noise) Crosstalk

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