US Patent 7528001 Method of manufacturing a CMOS image sensor

A complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) image sensor includes a pad protection layer having a dual-layer structure including a plasma enhanced-tetra ethyl ortho silicate (PE-TEOS) layer as a lower layer and a thermo-setting resin layer as an upper layer. The thermo-setting resin layer is removed before a micro-lens process and after a planarization process. The plasma enhanced-tetra ethyl ortho silicate (PE-TEOS) layer is removed after the planarization process and the micro-lens process.