Omnivision Technologies, Inc.

Magvision Semiconductor (beijing) Inc.

Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC

A9.com, Inc.

Silead Inc.

Gang Chen

Duli Mao

Dyson Hsinchih Tai

Hsin-Chih Tai

Hui Zang

Howard E Rhodes

Dajiang Yang

Yuanwei Zheng

Vincent Venezia

Qin Wang

Sing-Chung Hu

Yin Qian

Cunyu Yang

Chih-Wei Hsiung

Oray Orkun Cellek

Lindsay Alexander Grant

Zhiqiang Lin

Sohei Manabe

Keiji Mabuchi

Bill Phan

Jin Li

Arvind Kumar

Zhenhong Fu

Chen-Wei Lu

Min Hyuk Choi

Rongsheng Yang

Shiyu Sun

Ashish A Shah

Guannan Chen

Qianqian Wang

Yi Zhang

Yi Ma

Eric A G Webster

Johannes Solhusvik

Dominic Massetti

Trygve Willassen

Xianmin Yi

Lequn Liu

Dyson Hsin-Chih Tai

Keh-Chiang Ku

Bowei Zhang

Chao Niu

Zhibin Xiong

Xin Ru Wang

Boyd Fowler

Zhiming Zhuang

Chin Poh Pang

Yuanliang Liu

Wei Zheng

Chia-Chun Miao

Manoj Bikumandla

Takayuki Goto

Cheng Zhao

Kenny Geng

Abraham Hossain Bagherjeiran

Jing Ye

Siguang Ma

Philip John Cizdziel

Eric Webster

Chein-Hsin Liu

Jiaming Xing

Chiao-Ti Huang

Hung Chih Chang

Zhi Hao

Dyson Hsinchin Tai

Xi-Feng Gao

Armin Yazdani

Fengyun Yan

Takeshi Takeda

A pixel of an image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate having a front surface and a back surface opposing the front surface, a photodiode and floating diffusion (FD) region formed in the substrate along a first pixel axis parallel to the front surface and a transfer gate formed in the front surface of the substrate between the photodiode and the FD region. The transfer gate includes a planar gate on the front surface of the substrate, a vertical transfer gate extending into the substrate from the planar gate, the vertical transfer gate further including a trench and a layer of doped semiconductor material epitaxially grown on the sides and bottom of the trench. The semiconductor substrate and the epitaxial layer comprise a first conductive type, and the photodiode and the FD region comprise a second conductive type. An image sensor and method of forming the vertical transfer gate are disclosed.

Pixel with vertical transfer structure for dark current improvement, an image sensor thereof and a fabrication method thereof

A backside-illuminated image sensor includes photodiodes in photodiode regions electrically isolated by filled trenches with openings in a dielectric layer over the photodiodes. The image sensor has a metal grid aligned over the trenches, the metal grid within 80 nanometers of the trenches. The image sensor is formed by: fabricating photodiodes in photodiode regions of a frontside of a silicon substrate with source-drain regions of transistors, the photodiodes electrically isolated by deep trenches, each photodiode within a photodiode region of the substrate; forming the filled trenches in a backside of the semiconductor substrate; forming protective oxide and process stop layers over the backside of the semiconductor substrate; depositing a metal grid over the deep trenches, removing the process stop layer from over photodiode regions; and depositing color filters over the photodiode regions.

High dynamic range, backside-illuminated, low crosstalk image sensor with walls on backside surface to isolate photodiodes

An image sensor device is disclosed. The image sensor device includes a number of pixels and neighboring pixels are isolated by deep trench isolation structures. In an embodiment, a method of forming a deep trench isolation structure includes performing a first etching process to remove a portion of a substrate, thereby forming a first trench in the substrate, performing a first doping process to form a first sidewall doped region along a sidewall surface of the first trench, after the performing of the first plasma doping process, performing a second etching process to extend the first trench, thereby forming a second trench in the substrate, and, after the performing of the second etching process, performing a second doping process to form a second sidewall doped region along a sidewall surface of the second trench, a portion of the second sidewall doped region overlaps with the first sidewall doped region.

Image sensor pixel with deep trench isolation structure

An image sensor device is disclosed. The image sensor device includes a substrate having a plurality of pixel regions. The image sensor device also includes a first photodiode in a first pixel region, a source follower transistor coupled to the first photodiode, and a select transistor coupled to the source follower transistor. One of the source follower transistor and the select transistor is in a second pixel region that is different from the first pixel region. While the source follower and the select transistor can be allocated to different cells, either the source follower or the select transistor or both can be further allocated or split into different cells.

Transistors, electronic devices, and methods are provided. Transistors include a gate trench formed in a semiconductor substrate and extending to a gate trench depth, and a source and a drain formed as doped regions in the semiconductor substrate and having a first conductive type. The source and the drain are formed along a channel length direction of the transistor at a first end and a second end of the gate trench, respectively, and the source and the drain each includes a first doped region and a second doped region extending away from the first doped region. The second doped region extends to a depth in the semiconductor substrate deeper than the first doped region relative to a surface of the semiconductor substrate.

Dual depth junction structures and process methods

A pixel cell is formed on a semiconductor substrate having a front surface. The pixel cell includes a photodiode, a floating diffusion region, and a transfer gate. The photodiode is disposed in the semiconductor substrate. The floating diffusion region includes a first doped region disposed in the semiconductor substrate, wherein the first doped region extends from the front surface to a first junction depth in the semiconductor substrate. The transfer gate is configured to selectively couple the photodiode to the floating diffusion region controlling charge transfer between the photodiode and the floating diffusion region. The transfer gate includes a planar gate disposed on the front surface of the semiconductor substrate and a pair of vertical gate electrodes. Each vertical gate electrode extending a gate depth from the planar gate into the semiconductor substrate. The first junction depth is greater than the gate depth.

Pixel cell having anti-blooming structure and image sensor

An image sensor device is disclosed. The image sensor device includes a substrate having a plurality of pixel regions. Two adjacent pixel regions are optically and electrically isolated by a deep trench isolation structure. In an embodiment, a method of forming the deep trench isolation structure includes receiving a workpiece comprising a first isolation structure formed in a front side of a substrate, forming a trench extending through the first isolation structure and the substrate, forming a dielectric liner to line the trench, depositing a conductive layer conformally over the workpiece after the forming of the dielectric liner, and depositing a dielectric fill layer over the conductive layer to fill the trench. A refractive index of the dielectric fill layer may be smaller than a refractive index of the conductive layer. The present disclosure also includes an alternative method for forming isolation structures at a back side of the substrate.

Transistors having nonplanar electron channels in the channel width plane have one or more features that cause the different parts of the nonplanar electron channel to turn on at substantially the same threshold voltage. Advantageously, such transistors have substantially uniform threshold voltage across the nonplanar electron channel. Devices, image sensors, and pixels incorporating such transistors are also provided, in addition to methods of manufacturing the same.

Uniform threshold voltage non-planar transistors

An image sensor device is disclosed. The image sensor device includes a substrate having a plurality of pixel regions. Two adjacent pixel regions are optically isolated by an isolation structure. In an embodiment, a method of forming the isolation structure includes receiving a workpiece having a first substrate, etching a frontside of the first substrate to form a first trench, depositing a fill layer in the first trench, removing a portion of the fill layer from the backside of the first substrate to form a second trench surrounded by the fill layer, and depositing a metal layer in the second trench to form the isolation structure.

Deep trench isolation structure for image sensor

Embodiments relate to a display device with subpixels that share switch transistors that selectively connect sources of driving transistors to a high voltage source. Further, part of reset transistors or part of a select transistor may be shared across multiple subpixels. The reset transistor selectively connects an anode of an organic light emitting diode (OLED) to a low voltage source. The select transistor selectively passes through pixel data from a data line when a gate signal is received via a gate line. Driver transistors and capacitors of the subpixels are independent and not shared. In this way, the dimensions of the subpixels may be reduced and enable increase in the density of the pixels.

Subpixels with reduced dimensions by using shared switching transistors

An image sensor comprises a first photodiode region and circuitry. The first photodiode region is disposed within a semiconductor substrate proximate to a first side of the semiconductor substrate to form a first pixel. The first photodiode region includes a first segment coupled to a second segment. The circuitry includes at least a first electrode associated with a first transistor. The first electrode is disposed, at least in part, between the first segment and the second segment of the first photodiode region such that the circuity is at least partially surrounded by the first photodiode region when viewed from the first side of the semiconductor substrate.

Pixel layout with photodiode region partially surrounding circuitry

Embodiments relate to a display device including pixels that compensate a threshold voltage of a driving transistor using the body effect. Pixel data for the driving transistor increases the source-bulk voltage of the driving transistor during a compensation period as a result of the body effect. A separate reference voltage is not received at the pixel for the purpose of compensating the threshold voltage of the driving transistor. The increased source-bulk voltage is then used in an emission period of the pixel to compensate for the threshold voltage of the driving transistor.

Self-compensation of driving transistor threshold voltage using body effect

An uneven-trench pixel cell includes a semiconductor substrate that includes a floating diffusion region, a photodiode region, and, between a front surface and a back surface: a first sidewall surface, a shallow bottom surface, a second sidewall surface, and a deep bottom surface. The first sidewall surface and a shallow bottom surface define a shallow trench, located between the floating diffusion region and the photodiode region, that extends into the semiconductor substrate from the front surface. A shallow depth of the shallow trench exceeds a junction depth of the floating diffusion region. The second sidewall surface and a deep bottom surface define a deep trench, located between the floating diffusion region and the photodiode region, that extends into the semiconductor substrate from the front surface. A distance between the deep bottom surface and the front surface defines a deep depth, of the deep trench, that exceeds the shallow depth.

Uneven-trench pixel cell and fabrication method

A pixel-array substrate includes a semiconductor substrate with a pixel array, a back surface, and a front surface, and a guard ring formed of a doped semiconductor, enclosing the pixel array, and extending into the semiconductor substrate from the front surface, the back surface forming a trench extending into the semiconductor substrate, the trench overlapping the guard ring. A method for reducing leakage current into a pixel-array includes doping a semiconductor substrate to form a guard ring that extends into the semiconductor substrate from a front surface, encloses a pixel array, excludes a periphery region, and resists a flow of electric current, and forming, into a back surface of the semiconductor substrate, a trench that penetrates into the back surface and overlaps the guard ring, the guard ring and the trench configured to resist the flow of electric current between the pixel array and the periphery region.

Electrical isolation in pixel-array substrates using combination of doped semiconductor guard rings and overlapping isolation trenches

Embodiments disclosed herein reduce petal flare. A flare-suppressing image sensor includes a plurality of pixels including a first set of pixels and a second set of pixels. The flare-suppressing image sensor further includes plurality of microlenses, where each microlens is aligned to a respective one of the first set of pixels. The flare-suppressing image sensor further includes plurality of sub-microlens, where each microlens array is aligned to a respective one of the second set of pixels.

Flare-suppressing image sensor

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Gang Chen