Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) designed in a standard VLSI CMOS technology have recently been proposed as a compact pixel detector for the detection of high-energy charged particle in vertex/tracking applications. MAPS, also named CMOS sensors, are already extensively used in visible light applications. With respect to other competing imaging technologies, CMOS sensors have several potential advantages in terms of low cost, low power, lower noise at higher speed, random access of pixels which allows windowing of region of interest, ability to integrate several functions on the same chip. This brings altogether to the concept of ‘camera-on-a-chip’. In this paper, we review the use of CMOS sensors for particle physics and we analyse their performances in term of the efficiency (fill factor), signal generation, noise, readout speed and sensor area. In most of high-energy physics applications, data reduction is needed in the sensor at an early stage of the data processing before transfer of the data to tape. Because of the large number of pixels, data reduction is needed on the sensor itself or just outside. This brings in stringent requirements on the temporal noise as well as to the sensor uniformity, expressed as a Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN). A pixel architecture with an additional transistor is proposed. This architecture, coupled to correlated double sampling of the signal will allow cancellation of the two dominant noise sources, namely the reset or kTC noise and the FPN. A prototype has been designed in a standard 0.25 mm CMOS technology. It has also a structure for electrical calibration of the sensor. The prototype is functional and detailed tests are under way.
