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:
May. 27, 2008
Filed:
Feb. 11, 2005
Gennadiy Agranov, Boise, ID (US);
Xiangli LI, Boise, ID (US);
Peter Parker Altice, Meridian, ID (US);
Rick Mauritzson, Meridian, ID (US);
Gennadiy Agranov, Boise, ID (US);
Xiangli Li, Boise, ID (US);
Peter Parker Altice, Meridian, ID (US);
Rick Mauritzson, Meridian, ID (US);
Micron Technology, Inc., Boise, ID (US);
Abstract
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.