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:
Dec. 24, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 21, 1999
Applicant:
Inventors:
Lester J. Kozlowski, Simi Valley, CA (US);
Richard A. Mann, Torrance, CA (US);
Assignee:
Pictos Technologies, Inc., Newport Beach, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 2/700 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 2/700 ;
Abstract
An apparatus and method for achieving uniform low dark currents with CMOS photodiodes. A threshold voltage of a reset FET is set to an appropriate value such that the dark current from a photodiode is actively removed through the reset FET during signal integration. This reduces the dark current by over 3 orders of magnitude as compared to conventional active pixel sensors, without requiring pinned photodiodes.