floating diffusion region 305 and source drain region 302 are formed as n type regions any suitable n type dopant such as phosphorus arsenic or antimony may be used the floating diffusion region 305 is formed on the side of the transfer gate stack 407 opposite the n type photodiode region 321 the source drain region 302 is formed on a side of the reset gate stack 406 opposite the floating diffusion region 305 fig4 k depicts the formation of a dielectric layer 307 illustratively layer 307 is an oxide layer but layer 307 may be any appropriate dielectric material such as silicon dioxide silicon nitride an oxynitride or tetraethyl orthosilicate teos among others formed by methods known in the art the doped surface layer 322 for the photodiode 323 is implanted as illustrated in fig4 l doped surface layer 322 is formed as a highly doped p type surface layer and is formed to a depth of approximately 0 1 u03bcm a p type dopant such as boron indium or any other suitable p type dopant may be used to form the p type surface layer 322 the p type surface layer 322 may be formed by known techniques for example layer 322 may be formed by implanting p type ions through openings in a layer of photoresist alternatively layer 322 may be formed by a gas source plasma doping process or by diffusing a p type dopant into the substrate 311 from an in situ doped layer or a doped oxide layer deposited over the area where layer 322 is to be formed the oxide layer 307 is etched such that remaining portions form a sidewall spacer on a sidewall of the reset gate stack.