Patent ID: 7670863

Claim:
A method of fabricating a complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) image sensor, comprising: forming a passivation oxide and a passivation nitride on the CMOS image sensor having a pad in a pad region thereof; selectively removing the passivation nitride in the pad region and in a pixel region by a photolithography process to form a groove in the pixel region, and performing a first cleaning process; performing a hydrogen anneal process; opening the pad by removing the passivation oxide in the pad region and performing a second cleaning process; forming a pad protective layer on the pad, the passivation nitride, and the passivation oxide, after selectively removing the passivation nitride and opening the pad, wherein the pad protective layer directly contacts the passivation oxide in the pixel region; forming a color filter array directly on the pad protective layer in the groove in the pixel region, then forming a planarization layer and a microlens thereafter; and removing the pad protective layer in the pad region.