Lfoundry S.r.l.

Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC

Aptina Imaging Corporation

Giovanni Margutti

Andrea Del Monte

Satyadev Hulikal Nagaraja

Giovanni De Amicis

Angelo Rivetti

Lucio Pancheri

Onorato Di Cola

Rayner Barboza

Paolo Organtini

Piero Giubilato

Manuel Dionisio Da Rocha Rolo

Fabio Spaziani

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a backside illumination (BSI) CMOS optical sensor and more specifically to a method of reducing the cross talk and enhance the photon detection efficiency (PDE) in a backside illumination (BSI) CMOS optical sensor. In particular the claimed method comprises the step of creating an isolation structure between the adjacent sensing elements of the pixel-array of said BSI CMOS optical sensor, so as to isolate all the adjacent sensing elements from each other, and the step of creating a common voltage backside applying structure to all the sensing elements of said pixel-array, so as to connect all the sensing elements to a common voltage bias.

Method for manufacturing a backside illumination optical sensor with improved detection parameters

This disclosure provides a semiconductor sensor of ionizing radiation and/or ionizing particles with a backside bias electrode and a backside junction for completely depleting the semiconductor substrate up to carrier collection regions each connected to a respective collection electrode of carriers generated by ionization in the substrate. Differently from prior sensors, the sensor of this disclosure has an intermediate semiconductor layer formed upon the substrate, having a greater doping concentration than the doping concentration of the substrate and a doping of a same type. In this intermediate layer, buried doped regions of opposite type one separated from the other are formed for shielding superficial regions in which readout circuits are defined.

Integrated sensor of ionizing radiation and ionizing particles

A method for manufacturing a CMOS image sensor for near infrared detection. The method includes: a) providing a silicon wafer; b) performing a germanium implantation in a portion of a front side of the silicon wafer; c) performing an annealing so as to cause thermal diffusion of implanted germanium species, thereby forming silicon-germanium alloy lattice in a first silicon-germanium region exposed on the front side of the silicon wafer; d) carrying out the steps b) and c) one or more times; and e) forming first photodetector active areas in portions of the first silicon-germanium region downwards extending from the front side of the silicon wafer, wherein said first photodetector active areas are sensitive to both near infrared and visible radiations. The first photodetector active areas are formed also in portions of the silicon wafer extending below said portions of the first silicon-germanium region.

Method for manufacturing improved NIR CMOS sensors

Image sensors may include a plurality of photodiodes. The photodiodes may be isolated from each other using isolations regions formed from p-well or n-well implants. Deep and narrow isolation regions may be formed using a multi-step process that selectively places implants at desired depths in a substrate. If desired, the multi-step process may include only one photolithographic patterning step, which in turn can help reduce costs, fabrication time, and alignment errors. The process may include passing ions through a stack of alternating layers of material such as alternating layers of oxide and nitride. After each implant, a layer in the stack may be removed and ions may be passed through the layers remaining in the stack to form an implant at a different depth in the substrate.

Range modulated implants for image sensors

Methods and devices that incorporate microlens arrays are disclosed. An image sensor includes a pixel layer and a dielectric layer. The pixel layer has a photodetector portion configured to convert light absorbed by the pixel layer into an electrical signal. The dielectric layer is formed on a surface of the pixel layer. The dielectric layer has a refractive index that varies along a length of the dielectric layer. A method for fabricating an image sensor includes forming an array of microlenses on a surface of the dielectric layer, emitting ions through the array of microlenses to implant the ions in the dielectric layer, and removing the array of microlenses from the surface of the dielectric layer.

Method of fabrication of an array of graded refractive index microlenses integrated in an image sensor

Method of fabrication of an array of graded refractive index microlenses integrated in a image sensor

Growing community of inventors

Avezzano, Italy

Giovanni Margutti