Matsushita Electronics Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Kenju Horii

Takao Kuroda

Takahiro Yamada

Toshihiro Kuriyama

Sumio Terakawa

Hiroyuki Mizuno

Shigenori Matsumoto

Tohru Takamura

In a solid state image sensing device of p-conductivity type well, photo-electro converting region (1) are configurated to have larger area as depth increases, so that excessive electric charges generated in the p-conductivity type well are easily transferred from expanded peripheral parts (7) at the bottom (1b) to channel (3), without being undesirably transferred downward through thin p-conductivity type region 6 to substrate (4), and smear electric charges which has been generated in a thin p-conductivity type well under the photo-electro converting region in the conventional device is suppressed, to effectively decrease the smear phenomenon.

Method for making solid state image sensing device

In a solid state image sensing device of P-conductivity type well, photo-electro converting region (1) are configured to have a larger area as the depth increases, so that excessive electric charges generated in the p-conductivity type well are easily transferred from expanded peripheral parts (7) at the bottom (1b) to channel (3), without being undesirably transferred downward through thin p-conductivity type region 6 to substrate (4), and smear electric charges which has been generated in a thin p-conductivity type well under the photo-electro converting region in the conventional device is suppressed, to effectively decrease the smear phenomenon.

Solid state image sensing device with photodiode to reduce smearing

Photoelectric transducing elements are formed in a first impurity-doped region (14), and signal charge reading-out circuits (2, 3) are formed in a second impurity-doped region which is deeper than the first impurity-doped region, so that fixed pattern noise is drastically reduced, improving picture quality.

Solid state imaging apparatus

A method for driving a solid state image pickup device is provided in which charges stored in a group of photoelectric conversion elements of odd rows are first discharged or read out, and then charges stored in a group of photoelectric conversion elements of even rows are read out or discharged, thereafter, the charges stored in the group of photoelectric conversion elements of even rows are first discharged or read out and then charges stored in the group of photoelectric conversion elements of odd rows and read out or discharged.

Method for driving solid state image pickup device

The invention provides a solid state image pickup device having a plurality of photoelectric transducers and a vertical transfer CCD (charge coupled device) unit. A concentration of an impurity of a semiconductor substrate region surrounding each of the vertical transfer CCD in the vicinity of each of the photoelectric transducers is higher than that below each of the photoelectric transducers.

Solid state image sensor exhibiting reduced image smearing effects

A solid-state image sensor in which a light signal charge transfer means comprising a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) vertical shift register and switching elements is provided so that the light signal charge stored in the photoelectric transducer elements in one column in an (m.times.n) photoelectric transducer matrix array is simultaneously transferred to a vertical transmission line; and another charge transfer means comprising a transfer gate means and storage capacitor elements transfers the light signal charge transferred onto the vertical transmission line to a horizontal shift register from which the light signal charge is transferred to an output stage. The horizontal shift register comprises a charge-coupled device (CCD) type horizontal shift register. The solid-state image sensor can eliminate blooming caused by the incidence of light with a high intensity and smear caused by the incidence of light on the areas except predetermined light reception areas.

Solid states image sensor array having circuit for suppressing image

In a solid-state image sensor of the type comprising an image pickup region comprising photosensor element arrays and charge transfer arrays, a charge storage region and a read-out region, two or more charge storage arrays are provided for each of the charge transfer arrays. The number of transfer electrodes in each of the charge storage arrays can be reduced to 1/n, where n is the number of charge storage arrays for each charge transfer array, as compared with the case in which one charge storage array is provided for each charge transfer array. As a consequence, the area of the charge storage region on a chip can be considerably reduced and the reduction of the transfer charge signal can be improved; that is, the error rate can be reduced.

Charge-coupled type solid-state image sensor

In the fabrication of a solid-state image sensor of the type having a plurality of photoelectric transducer means on a semiconductor substrate of one conductivity, excessive charge drain regions each provided with a plurality of first electrodes and second electrodes which function as a gate for controlling the drain of excessive charge, impurities or dopants of the other conductivity are introduced immediately below each of the regions at which the first electrodes are to be formed; thereafter, the first and second electrodes are formed; and impurities or dopants which are same as the above-described impurities or dopants are introduced while using the first and second electrodes as a masking pattern, whereby the photoelectric transducer means and drain regions are formed.

Method for fabricating solid-state image sensor

A solid-state color image sensor in which a photosensor region comprises a plurality of parallel transfer electrodes and a plurality of channel stops extended at right angles to the transfer electrodes; the photosensor region is divided into a plurality of elements each comprising a predetermined number of transfer electrodes; one of the transfer electrodes of each element which are adjacent to other elements is optically shielded; and voltages are applied to the transfer electrodes of each element in such a way that the potentials below the optically shielded transfer electrode, the transfer electrode or electrodes which do not collect signal charges, the channel stop and the transfer electrode or electrodes which collect the signal charges become progressively deeper in the order named. Mixtures of the signal charges from the different color picture elements can be avoided, so that an image with a higher degree of color purity can be obtained.

Solid-state color image sensor

A solid-state image pick-up device has transfer gates and storage capacitive elements with smaller capacitance than that of a vertical transfer lines between the vertical transfer lines to which signal charge is transferred through the operation of a signal charge transfer circuit containing the vertical shift register and switch elements, and a horizontal shift register for receiving the signal charge. The horizontal shift register is of the charge coupling type. The horizontal shift register has unit elements two times the vertical transfer lines. An optical signal and the other charge than the optical signal charge are stored in the adjacent unit elements and then the other charge than the optical charge is outputted to the other portion than a signal output portion. A charge transfer method for the solid state image pick-up device comprises a first step of injecting bias charge from the storage capacitive elements to the vertical transfer lines, a second step for transferring a changed amount of the charge on the vertical transfer line and the bias charge to the storage capacitive element and a third step for transferring only the changed amount of the charge to the horizontal shift register.

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Shiga, Japan

Kenju Horii