The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 15, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 16, 2001
Toshio Yoshida, Sakurai, JP;
Yoshinori Kamada, Kashiba, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A CCD area sensor has an effective pixel region for detecting optical information of a subject and an ineffective pixel region for detecting optical black. On a light-receiving region in the ineffective pixel region, a light shielding film is provided with an opening portion. This enables hydrogen ions to be sufficiently diffused from a passivation film made of a P—SiN film toward a silicon substrate in a hydrogen annealing process even though the light shielding film is made of a material such as a high-melting point metal of TiW that is hard for hydrogen ions to penetrate. As a result, interface state densities in a light-receiving region and a transfer channel region are reduced, and a dark-time output voltage of the ineffective pixel region is reduced to be equivalent to that of the effective pixel region. Thus, no difference occurs between the effective pixel region and the ineffective pixel region in terms of the black level.