Patent ID: 8143626

Claim:
A complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, comprising: a semiconductor substrate having a pixel array area and a logic circuit area, wherein the pixel array area is bounded by the logic circuit area and is isolated from the logic circuit area by a field oxide region; a pixel array formed in the pixel array area of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the pixel array includes a plurality of MOSFET transistors each having a gate with a gate insulating layer; and a logic circuit formed in the logic circuit area of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the logic circuit is configured to process signals received from the pixel array, and wherein the logic circuit includes a plurality of MOSFET transistors each having a gate with a gate insulating layer; wherein the gate insulating layers of all MOSFET transistors in the pixel array are thicker than the gate insulating layers of each MOSFET transistor in the logic circuit.