Image sensor

An image sensor comprising:

• a substrate including a first surface and a second surface;
• a plurality of pixels including a first pixel and a second pixel, each of the plurality of pixels including a photodiode;
• a first insulating layer disposed on the first surface of the substrate;
• an antireflection layer disposed on the second surface of the substrate;
• a filter disposed on the antireflection layer, and
• a lens disposed on the filter;
• a pixel separation structure disposed in the substrate and penetrating the substrate, the pixel separation structure being disposed between the first pixel and the second pixel, and including a conductive layer;
• a contact disposed in the antireflection layer, and electrically connected to the conductive layer of the pixel separation structure;
• an interconnection disposed in the first insulating layer;
• and
• an isolation layer disposed in the substrate and adjacent to the first surface of the substrate,
• wherein a portion of the contact is inserted into inserted into the conductive layer of the pixel separation structure via the second surface of the substrate,
• the pixel separation structure contacts the isolation layer and penetrates the isolation layer, and
• a width of an upper portion of the contact is greater than a width of the pixel separation structure.

An image sensor comprising:

• an active pixel sensor (APS) array configured to sense an image and including a plurality of pixels, the APS array comprising:
• a substrate including a first surface and a second surface, and including the plurality of pixels that include a first pixel and a second pixel;
• a first insulating layer disposed on the first surface of the substrate;
• an antireflection layer disposed on the second surface of the substrate;
• a pixel separation structure disposed in the substrate, the pixel separation structure separating the first pixel and the second pixel, and including a conductive layer,
• a contact disposed in the antireflection layer and penetrating the antireflection layer, the contact being electrically connected to the conductive layer of the pixel separation structure;
• a first interconnection disposed in the first insulating layer;
• and
• an isolation layer disposed in the substrate and adjacent to the first surface of the substrate;
• a row driver;
• a correlated double sampler configured to sample an analog signal generated by the APS array, and to output the sampled analog signal;
• a comparator,
• an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to convert the sampled analog signal to digital image data;
• a timing generator configured to generate a reference signal, and to provide the reference signal to the row driver, the correlated double sampler, the comparator and the ADC;
• a ramp signal generator configured to generate a ramp signal, and provide the ramp signal to the correlated double sampler or the comparator, and
• a control resister circuit configured to control all operations of the image sensor, and to provide an operation signal to the timing generator and the ramp signal generator,
• wherein a portion of the contact is inserted into the substrate via the second surface, and
• the pixel separation structure contacts the isolation layer.