Micron Technology Incorporated

Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC

Rick Mauritzson

Jeffrey P Gambino

David T Price

Angel L Rodriguez

Jeffery Allen Neuls

Kenneth Andrew Bates

Gennadiy A Agranov

Xiangli Li

Peter Parker Altice

Implementations of image sensors may include a first die including an image sensor array and a first plurality of interconnects where the image sensor array includes a plurality of photodiodes and a plurality of transfer gates. The image sensor array may also include a second die including a second plurality of interconnects and a plurality of capacitors, each capacitor selected from the group consisting of deep trench capacitors, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors, polysilicon-insulator-polysilicon (PIP) capacitors, and 3D stacked capacitors. The first die may be coupled to the second die through the first plurality of interconnects and through the second plurality of interconnects. No more than eight photodiodes of the plurality of photodiodes of the first die may be electrically coupled with no more than four capacitors of the plurality of capacitors.

Stacked image sensor capacitors and related methods

An imager having optically and electrically black reference pixels in each row of the imager's pixel array. Since the reference pixels of each row experience the same row-wise noise as active imaging pixels in the associated row, the signals from the reference pixels are used to cancel out row-wise noise from the row of imaging pixels. The reference pixels are designed such that their photosensors are physically or effectively removed from the row-wise noise correction, thus rendering them electrically black or dark. As such, the reference pixels can be used to provide row-wise noise correction without the adverse effects of warm and hot pixels.

Imager row-wise noise correction

A method of operating an imager pixel that includes the act of applying a relatively small voltage on the gate of a transfer transistor during a charge acquisition period. If a small positive voltage is applied, a depletion region is created under the transfer transistor gate, which creates a path for dark current electrons to be transferred to a pixel floating diffusion region. The dark electrons are subsequently removed by a pixel reset operation. If a small negative voltage is applied to the transfer gate, electrons that would normally create dark current problems will instead recombine with holes thereby substantially reducing dark current.

Method and apparatus for dark current and hot pixel reduction in active pixel image sensors

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Meridian, ID, United States of America

Rick Mauritzson