This paper offers an introduction to the technological advances of image sensors designed using
complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) processes along the last decades. We review
some of those technological advances and examine potential disruptive growth directions for CMOS
image sensors and proposed ways to achieve them. Those advances include breakthroughs on
image quality such as resolution, capture speed, light sensitivity and color detection and advances on
the computational imaging. The current trend is to push the innovation efforts even further as the
market requires higher resolution, higher speed, lower power consumption and, mainly, lower cost
sensors. Although CMOS image sensors are currently used in several different applications from
consumer to defense to medical diagnosis, product differentiation is becoming both a requirement and
a difficult goal for any image sensor manufacturer. The unique properties of CMOS process allows the
integration of several signal processing techniques and are driving the impressive advancement of the
computational imaging. With this paper, we offer a very comprehensive review of methods,
techniques, designs and fabrication of CMOS image sensors that have impacted or might will impact
the images sensor applications and markets
