Following structural etching, vacuum baking, and rapid thermal processing, the exposed backside silicon surface of a Backside-Illuminated (BSI) CMOS Image Sensor is left with crystalline damage, native oxides, and dangling bonds P1.These structural and chemical defects create mid-gap energy states that act as generation-recombination centers, which severely increase dark current P1.The RF Plasma step serves as a critical in-situ surface conditioning and cleaning mechanism immediately preceding t