Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.

Seiichi Yoneda

Yusuke Negoro

Shunpei Yamazaki

Hiroki Inoue

Hidetomo Kobayashi

Tatsuji Nishijima

Takayuki Ikeda

Takuro Ohmaru

Yuki Okamoto

Takeya Hirose

Yoshiyuki Kurokawa

Jun Koyama

Takashi Nakagawa

Takahiko Ishizu

Yasuyuki Takahashi

Shunsuke Sato

Yukio Maehashi

Yutaka Shionoiri

Munehiro Kozuma

Takeshi Aoki

Masami Endo

Kazuaki Ohshima

Wataru Uesugi

Hiroki Dembo

Masumi Nomura

Kiyoshi Kato

Atsuo Isobe

Hiromichi Godo

Tomoaki Atsumi

Atsushi Miyaguchi

Koichiro Kamata

Yuji Iwaki

Takahiro Fukutome

Shuhei Maeda

Tatsunori Inoue

Fumika Akasawa

Toshiki Hamada

A multifunctional imaging device is provided. The imaging device includes first to fourth light-receiving elements and first and second functional layers. The first to fourth light-receiving elements are photoelectric conversion elements having sensitivity to light of different wavelengths from each other. The first and second functional layers each include first and second transistors. The first functional layer and the fourth to first light-receiving elements are stacked in this order over the second functional layer. In each of the first to fourth light-receiving elements, a first conductive layer, a first buffer layer, a photoelectric conversion layer, a second buffer layer, and a second conductive layer are stacked in this order. The photoelectric conversion layer includes an organic compound, and the first buffer layer and the second buffer layer each include a metal or an organic compound. The first transistor is electrically connected to the first conductive layer of any of the first to fourth light-receiving elements. The second transistor is electrically connected to the first transistor.

Imaging device

The present invention relates to a highly functional imaging device that can be manufactured through a small number of steps. A first stacked body is formed in which a circuit provided with a transistor including a metal oxide in its channel formation region (hereinafter, OS transistor) is stacked over a circuit including a Si transistor. A second stacked body is formed in which an OS transistor is provided over a Si photodiode. Layers including the OS transistors of the first stacked body and the second stacked body are bonded to each other to obtain electrical connection between circuits. With such a structure, even when a structure is employed in which a plurality of circuits having different functions are stacked, the number of polishing steps and bonding steps can be reduced, improving the yield.

Imaging device with embedded conductive layers

A semiconductor device with a small circuit scale is provided. The semiconductor device includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit includes first to n-th (n is an integer of 2 or more) transistors and the second circuit includes (n+1)-th to 2n-th transistors. The first to n-th transistors are connected in parallel to each other and the (n+1)-th to 2n-th transistors are connected in series to each other. First to n-th signals are supplied to the first circuit and the second circuit. The first circuit has a function of outputting a first potential when each of potentials of the first to n-th signals is lower than or equal to a first reference potential, and outputting a second potential when at least one of the potentials of the first to n-th signals is higher than the first reference potential. The second circuit has a function of outputting a third potential when each of the potentials of the first to n-th signals is higher than a second reference potential, and outputting the first potential when at least one of the potentials of the first to n-th signals is lower than or equal to the second reference potential.

Semiconductor device and driving method thereof

A semiconductor device that level-shifts a negative voltage and/or a positive voltage is provided. The semiconductor device includes a first transistor, a second transistor, a third transistor, a fourth transistor, a first capacitor, an input terminal, and an output terminal. A first terminal of the first transistor is electrically connected to a first terminal of the second transistor and the output terminal. A second terminal of the second transistor is electrically connected to a first terminal of the third transistor. A first terminal of the fourth transistor is electrically connected to a gate of the second transistor and a first terminal of the first capacitor, and a second terminal of the first capacitor is electrically connected to the input terminal. The first transistor, the second transistor, the third transistor, and the fourth transistor are of the same polarity.

Semiconductor device and imaging device

A semiconductor device capable of stable operation with low power consumption is provided. A logic circuit having a circuit configuration using a transistor including an oxide semiconductor in a channel formation region is included. The logic circuit is a two-input/two-output two-wire logic circuit. Transistors included in the logic circuit each include a gate and a back gate. An input terminal is electrically connected to one of a gate and a back gate of a transistor electrically connected to a wiring for supplying a high power supply potential. An output terminal is connected to the other of the gate and the back gate of the transistor electrically connected to the wiring for supplying a high power supply potential. An output terminal is electrically connected to one of a source and a drain of a transistor electrically connected to a wiring for supplying a low power supply potential. A gate or a back gate of the transistor electrically connected to the wiring for supplying a low power supply potential is electrically connected to an input terminal.

Semiconductor device

An imaging device with low power consumption is provided. A pixel includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit can generate imaging data and retain difference data that is a difference between the imaging data and data obtained in an initial frame. The second circuit includes a circuit that compares the difference data and a voltage range set arbitrarily. The second circuit supplies a reading signal based on the comparison result. With the use of the structure, reading from the pixel is not performed when it is determined that the difference data is within the set voltage range and reading from the pixel can be performed when it is determined that the difference data is outside the voltage range.

Imaging device, operation method thereof, and electronic device

An imaging device having a function of processing an image is provided. The imaging device has an additional function such as image processing, can hold analog data obtained by an image capturing operation in a pixel, and can extract data obtained by multiplying the analog data by a predetermined weight coefficient. Difference data between adjacent light-receiving devices can be obtained in a pixel, and data on luminance gradient can be obtained. When the data is taken in a neural network or the like, inference of distance data or the like can be performed. Since enormous volume of image data in the state of analog data can be held in pixels, processing can be performed efficiently.

Imaging device and electronic device

An imaging device that has an image processing function and is capable of a high-speed operation is provided. The imaging device has an additional function such as image processing, and can retain analog data obtained by an image capturing operation in pixels and extract data obtained by multiplying the analog data by a given weight coefficient. In the imaging device, the data is stored in a memory cell and pooling processing of data stored in a plurality of memory cells can be performed. The pixels are provided so as to have a region overlapping with at least one of the memory cells, a pooling processing circuit, and a reading circuit of the pixels; thus, an increase in the area of the imaging device can be inhibited even with an additional function.

A semiconductor device having a novel structure is provided. The semiconductor device includes a plurality of operation circuits that can switch different kinds of operation processing; a plurality of switch circuits that can switch a connection state between the operation circuits; and a controller. The operation circuit includes a first memory that stores data corresponding to a weight parameter used in the plurality of kinds of operation processing. The operation circuit executes a product-sum operation by switching weight data in accordance with a context. The switch circuit includes a second memory that stores data for switching a plurality of connection states in response to switching of a second context signal. The controller generates a second context signal on the basis of a first context signal. The amount of data stored in the second memory can be smaller than the amount of data stored in the first memory in the operation circuit.

Semiconductor device comprising operation circuits and a switch circuit

An imaging device capable of image processing is provided. The imaging device can retain analog data (image data) obtained by an image-capturing operation in a pixel and extract data obtained by multiplying the analog data by a predetermined weight coefficient. When the data is taken in a neural network or the like, processing such as image recognition can be performed. Since enormous volumes of image data can be retained in pixels in the state of analog data, processing can be performed efficiently.

A semiconductor device with low power consumption can be provided. The semiconductor device includes a differential circuit and a latch circuit, the differential circuit includes a transistor including an oxide semiconductor in a channel formation region, and the latch circuit includes a transistor including a single semiconductor or a compound semiconductor in a channel formation region. The differential circuit and the latch circuit include an overlap region.

An imaging device that has an image processing function and is capable of operating at high speed is provided. The imaging device has an additional function such as image processing, image data obtained by an imaging operation is binarized in a pixel unit, and a product-sum operation is performed using the binarized data. A memory circuit is provided in the pixel unit and retains a weight coefficient used for the product-sum operation. Thus, an arithmetic operation can be performed without the weight coefficient read from the outside every time, whereby power consumption can be reduced. Furthermore, a pixel circuit, a memory circuit, and the like and a product-sum operation circuit and the like are stacked, so that the lengths of wirings between the circuits can be reduced, and high-speed operation with low power consumption can be performed.

A semiconductor device capable of holding analog data is provided. Two holding circuits, two bootstrap circuits, and one source follower circuit are formed with use of four transistors and two capacitors. A memory node is provided in each of the two holding circuits; a data potential is written to one of the memory nodes and a reference potential is written to the other of the memory nodes. At the time of data reading, the potential of the one memory node is increased in one of the bootstrap circuits, and the potential of the other memory node is increased in the other of the bootstrap circuits. A potential difference between the two memory nodes is output by the source follower circuit. With use of the source follower circuit, the output impedance can be reduced.

Semiconductor device using transistors having low off-state current

An imaging device that has an image processing function and is capable of a high-speed operation is provided. The imaging device, which has an additional function such as image processing, can retain analog data obtained by an image capturing operation in a pixel and extract data obtained by multiplying the analog data by a predetermined weight coefficient. In the imaging device, some of potentials used for an arithmetic operation in pixels are generated by redistribution of charge with which wirings are charged. This enables an arithmetic operation to be performed at high speed with low power consumption, compared with the case where the potentials are supplied from another circuit to the pixels.

An imaging device with an arithmetic function in which the circuit size is reduced is provided. The imaging device includes a plurality of pixel blocks. Each of the pixel blocks includes N (N is an integer greater than or equal to 1) first circuits, N second circuits, and a third circuit. Each of the first circuits includes a photoelectric conversion device, and the photoelectric conversion device has a function of converting incident light into an electrical signal and has a function of outputting a first signal that is obtained by binarizing the electrical signal to the second circuit. Each of the second circuits has a function of outputting a second signal that is obtained by multiplying the first signal by a weight coefficient to a third circuit. When the N second signals are output to a wiring electrically connected to the third circuit, addition is performed. The first circuit includes a transistor, and an OS transistor is preferably used as the transistor.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Seiichi Yoneda