Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Junji Hirase

Yoshihiro Sato

Yoshinori Takami

Masashi Murakami

Yoshiyuki Matsunaga

Kazuko Nishimura

Shinji Takeoka

Kazuhiko Aida

Tokuhiko Tamaki

Yutaka Abe

Naoki Kotani

Gen Okazaki

Akio Sebe

Shigeo Yoshii

Masayuki Takase

Hisashi Ogawa

Ryohei Miyagawa

Yoshiaki Satou

Shin Hashimoto

Takashi Hori

Shota Yamada

Hiroyuki Amikawa

Yasuyuki Endoh

Kosaku Saeki

Yoshiyuki Ohmori

Daisuke Ueda

Hironori Akamatsu

Kenji Yoneda

Takayoshi Yamada

Satoshi Shibata

Masaaki Yanagida

Susumu Akamatsu

Yasushi Naito

Chiaki Kudo

Tatsuo Sugiyama

Kentaro Nakanishi

Fumitoshi Kawase

Makoto Shouho

Hiroshi Ohkawa

Emi Kanasaki

Sogo Ota

Takeshi Hidaka

An imaging device includes a charge accumulator, a first transistor, and a first capacitive element. The first transistor has a first source, a first drain, and a first gate electrode electrically connected to one of the first source and the first drain. The first capacitive element holds the charges and has a first terminal. A fixed potential is supplied to the other of the first source and the first drain. One of the first source and the first drain is always electrically connected to the first terminal of the first capacitive element from start to end of an exposure period.

Imaging device and camera system

An imaging apparatus includes: a photoelectric converter that generates charge through photoelectric conversion; a charge accumulator in which the charge is accumulated; and a metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor including a first terminal, a second terminal, a gate, an oxide layer, and at least one semiconductor region. During exposure, the first terminal is electrically connected to the charge accumulator. The gate is electrically connected to the first terminal. The at least one semiconductor region is electrically connected to the second terminal. The oxide layer is located between the gate and the at least one semiconductor region.

Imaging apparatus

An imaging apparatus comprises a semiconductor substrate, a photoelectric converter, a charge storage region, and an amplification transistor. The photoelectric converter includes a pixel electrode, a counter electrode, and a photoelectric conversion layer. The photoelectric conversion layer is positioned above the semiconductor substrate and is disposed between the pixel electrode and the counter electrode. Charge generated by the photoelectric converter is stored in the charge storage region. The amplification transistor includes a source, a drain, and a gate electrode. The gate electrode is electrically connected to the charge storage region. In a plan view, the width of the drain of the amplification transistor is less than the width of the source of the amplification transistor.

An imaging device includes a first photoelectric converter that converts light into a charge, a first charge storage that stores the charge, a first capacitor, an output circuit electrically connected to the first capacitor, and a first interposing transistor including a gate electrode, a source, and a drain. A potential of the first charge storage, a potential of the gate electrode, and a potential of one of the source and the drain are continuously the same during a control cycle period. By turning on the first interposing transistor, the first charge storage and the first capacitor are electrically connected.

Imaging device

An imaging device including a semiconductor substrate; pixels; and a signal line located along the pixels, where each of the pixels includes: a photoelectric converter that generates signal charge by photoelectric conversion, a first transistor that outputs a signal to the signal line according to an amount of the signal charge, and a circuit that is coupled to a gate of the first transistor and that includes a capacitive element, and the signal line is located closer to the semiconductor substrate than the capacitive element.

Imaging device including signal line and unit pixel cell including charge storage region

An imaging device having a semiconductor substrate including: a semiconductor region including an impurity of a first conductivity type, a first diffusion region that is in contact with the semiconductor region, that includes an impurity of a second conductivity type different from the first conductivity type, and that converts incident light into charges, and a second diffusion region that includes an impurity of the second conductivity type and that directly accumulates at least a part of the charges generated in the first diffusion region. The imaging device further includes a contact plug in contact with the second diffusion region, and a capacitive element electrically connected to the second diffusion region through the contact plug.

Imaging device with multiple diffusion regions and capacitor element

An imaging device including a semiconductor substrate; a photoelectric converter that converts incident light into a signal charge, the photoelectric converter being stacked on the semiconductor substrate; a node to which the signal charge is input; a transistor having a source and a drain, one of the source and the drain being connected to the node; and a capacitive element connected between the transistor and a voltage source or a ground. The transistor is configured to switch between a first mode and a second mode, a sensitivity in the first mode being different from a sensitivity in the second mode, and in a cross-sectional view, the capacitive element is located between the semiconductor substrate and the photoelectric converter.

Imaging device including a photoelectric converter and a capacitive element having a dielectric film sandwiched between electrodes and a mode switching transistor

An imaging device including a pixel including: a photoelectric converter including a first electrode, a second electrode, and a photoelectric conversion film between the first electrode and the second electrode, the photoelectric conversion film converting light into a charge; a first transistor having a first source, drain and gate, the first gate connected to the first electrode; and a second transistor having a second source and drain, one of the second source and the second drain connected to the first electrode and being a charge accumulation region that accumulates the charge. The imaging device further including a first voltage supply circuit supplying a first voltage to the second electrode, where the second transistor has a characteristic that when a voltage of the charge accumulation region is equal to or greater than a clipping voltage, the second transistor is turned off, and the clipping voltage is lower than the first voltage.

An imaging device including: a photoelectric converter that converts incident light into a signal charge; a node to which the signal charge is input; a transistor having a source and a drain, one of the source and the drain being connected to the node; and a capacitive element. The capacitive element including a first electrode, a second electrode and a dielectric film sandwiched between the first electrode and the second electrode, the first electrode being connected to the other of the source and the drain of the transistor, the second electrode being connected to a voltage source or a ground. The transistor is configured to switch a first mode and a second mode, a sensitivity in the first mode being different from a sensitivity in the second mode.

An imaging device including: a semiconductor substrate; pixels arranged in a first direction; and a signal line that extends in the first direction. Each of the pixels includes: a photoelectric converter that generates signal charge by photoelectric conversion, a region into which the signal charge is input, a first transistor that outputs a signal to the signal line according to an amount of the signal charge input into the region, and a capacity circuit that is coupled to a gate of the first transistor and that includes a first capacitive element, the first capacitive element including a first electrode, a second electrode and a first insulating layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, at least one of the first electrode and the second electrode containing a metal. Further, the signal line is located closer to the semiconductor substrate than the first capacitive element is.

An imaging device including: a photoelectric converter that generates a signal charge by photoelectric conversion of light; a semiconductor substrate; a charge accumulation region that is an impurity region of a first conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate, the charge accumulation region being configured to receive the signal charge; a first transistor that includes, as a source or a drain, a first impurity region of the first conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate; and a blocking structure that is located between the charge accumulation region and the first transistor. The blocking structure includes a second impurity region of a second conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate, the second conductivity type being different from the first conductivity type, and a first electrode that is located above the semiconductor substrate, the first electrode being configured to be applied with a first voltage.

An imaging device, including a photoelectric converter that generates a signal charge by photoelectric conversion of light; and a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate includes: a charge accumulation region that is an impurity region of a first conductivity type, and configured to accumulate the signal charge; a first impurity region of the first conductivity type, the first impurity region being one of a source or a drain of a first transistor and adjacent to the charge accumulation region; and a blocking structure located between the charge accumulation region and the first impurity region. The blocking structure includes a second impurity region of a second conductivity type different from the first conductivity type, a part of the second impurity region located on a surface of the semiconductor substrate, and the second impurity region is not in contact with the first impurity region on the surface of the semiconductor substrate.

An imaging device includes a semiconductor substrate including a semiconductor region including an impurity of a first conductivity type, a first diffusion region that is in contact with the semiconductor region, that includes an impurity of a second conductivity type, and that converts incident light into charges, and a second diffusion region that includes an impurity of the second conductivity type and that accumulates at least a part of the charges flowing from the first diffusion region, a first transistor that includes a first gate electrode and that includes the second diffusion region as one of a source and a drain, a contact plug electrically connected to the second diffusion region, a capacitive element one end of which is electrically connected to the contact plug, and a second transistor that includes a second gate electrode, the second gate electrode being electrically connected to the one end of the capacitive element.

An imaging device including a semiconductor substrate; a photoelectric converter stacked on the semiconductor substrate, the photoelectric converter being configured to generate a signal through photoelectric conversion of incident light; a multilayer wiring structure located between the semiconductor substrate and the photoelectric converter; and circuitry located in the multilayer wiring structure and the semiconductor substrate, the circuitry being configured to detect the signal. The circuitry includes a first capacitance element and a second capacitance element; and a first transistor including a first source and a first drain in the semiconductor substrate and a first gate. The first capacitance element includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a dielectric film between the first electrode and the second electrode, the multilayer wiring structure includes an insulating layer adjacent to the first capacitance element, and a permittivity of the dielectric film is greater than a permittivity of the insulating layer.

Imaging device including photoelectric converter and circuitry including a first capacitance element, a second capacitance element and a transistor

An imaging device includes: a semiconductor layer including a first region of a first conductivity, a second region of a second conductivity opposite to the first conductivity, and a third region of the second conductivity; a photoelectric converter electrically connected to the first region and converting light into charge; a first transistor including a first source, a first drain, and a first gate above the second region, the first region corresponding to the first source or drain; and a second transistor including a second source, a second drain, and a second gate of the second conductivity above the third region, the first region corresponding to the second source or drain, and the second gate being electrically connected to the first region. The concentration of an impurity of the second conductivity in the third region is higher than that of an impurity of the second conductivity in the second region.

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Osaka, Japan

Junji Hirase