Image sensor
AssigneesSTMicroelectronics France, STMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS, STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
InventorsCeline Mas, Matteo Maria Vignetti, Francois Agut
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present description describes an image sensor including an array of pixels arranged inside and on top of a region of a semiconductor substrate electrically insulated from the rest of the substrate by insulating trenches crossing the substrate, each pixel including a photoconversion area and at least two assemblies, each including a memory area and a transfer gate coupling the memory area to the photoconversion area, and a circuit configured to apply, for each pixel and at least during each integration phase, a bias voltage different from ground to a portion of the substrate having the pixel arranged inside and on top of it.
Claims21
An image sensor comprising:
- an array of pixels arranged inside and on top of a region of a semiconductor substrate electrically insulated from a remainder of the substrate by insulating trenches crossing the substrate, wherein each pixel comprises a photoconversion area and at least two assemblies, wherein each assembly comprises a memory area and a transfer gate coupling the memory area to the photoconversion area;
- and
- a first circuit configured to apply, for each pixel and at least during each integration phase, a first bias voltage different from a ground potential to a portion of the substrate having the pixel arranged inside and on top of it, wherein the first bias voltage is a positive voltage.
An image sensor comprising:
- an array of pixels arranged inside and on top of a region of a first substrate electrically insulated from a remainder of the first substrate by insulating trenches crossing the first substrate, wherein each pixel comprises a photoconversion area and at least two assemblies, wherein each assembly comprises a memory area and a transfer gate coupling the memory area to the photoconversion area;
- a readout circuit, configured to selectively receive, during each readout phase, output signals from each row of the array of pixels;
- a second circuit, configured to generate, from a power supply voltage, a first bias voltage different from a ground potential, the second circuit being inside and on top of a second substrate, the second substrate being stacked on the first substrate;
- and
- a first circuit, configured to apply, for each pixel and during each integration phase, the first bias voltage to a portion of the first substrate having the pixel arranged inside and on top of it.
An image sensor comprising:
- an array of pixels arranged inside and on top of a region of a semiconductor substrate electrically insulated from a remainder of the substrate by insulating trenches crossing the substrate, wherein each pixel comprises a photoconversion area and at least two assemblies, wherein each assembly comprises a memory area and a transfer gate coupling the memory area to the photoconversion area;
- a first circuit configured to apply, for each pixel and at least during each integration phase, a first bias voltage different from a ground potential to a portion of the substrate having the pixel arranged inside and on top of it, the first bias voltage being in a range of 0.1 V to 1.5 V;
- and
- a second circuit, configured to generate, from a power supply voltage, the first bias voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.