US Patent 7312098 CMOS image sensor and method of manufacturing the same

There is provided a CMOS image sensor comprises a LOCOS isolation film 6 formed on the surface of a semiconductor substrate 100 containing a peripheral circuit 31 and a photodiode region 15, a gate electrode 1 formed on the surface of the peripheral circuit 31, a surface-protecting film 8 deposited on at least a portion of the photodiode region 15, and a sidewall 19 of the gate electrode formed without damaging the portion of photodiode region 15 on which a surface-protecting film 8 is deposited, thereby eliminating etching damage on the surface of the substrate to be expected for a photodiode during blanket etch-back, and suppressing fixed pattern noise (FPN).