Back to results
US 12,111,261 B2Granted
Integrated photodetector with direct binning pixel
AssigneeQuantum-Si Incorporated
InventorsJonathan M. Rothberg, Keith G. Fife, David M. Boisvert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An integrated circuit includes a photodetection region configured to receive incident photons. The photodetection region is configured to produce a plurality of charge carriers in response to the incident photons. The integrated circuit includes at least one charge carrier storage region. The integrated circuit also includes a charge carrier segregation structure configured to selectively direct charge carriers of the plurality of charge carriers directly into the at least one charge carrier storage region based upon times at which the charge carriers are produced.
Claims22
An integrated circuit, comprising:
- a photodetection region configured to receive incident photons, the photodetection region being configured to produce a plurality of charge carriers in response to the incident photons;
- a first charge carrier storage region and a second charge carrier storage region on a same side of the photodetection region as the first charge carrier storage region;
- and
- at least one electrode comprising a first electrode, the first electrode located, at least in part, at a boundary of the photodetection region and the first charge carrier storage region to form a potential barrier between the photodetection region and the first charge carrier storage region,
- wherein the integrated circuit is controllable to:
- aggregate, in the first charge carrier storage region, charge carriers at least in part by lowering the potential barrier formed by the first electrode to allow charge carrier transfer from the photodetection region to the first charge carrier storage region, the charge carriers produced by the photodetection region in response to a plurality of excitation light pulses;
- read out a signal representative of a quantity of the charge carriers;
- and
- store, in the first charge carrier storage region and in the second charge carrier storage region, respectively, charge carriers received at different times with respect to trigger events.
6 more elements
A system, comprising:
- an integrated circuit, comprising a pixel, the pixel comprising:
- a photodetection region configured to receive incident photons, the photodetection region being configured to produce a plurality of charge carriers in response to the incident photons;
- a first charge carrier storage region;
- a second charge carrier storage region;
- and
- at least one electrode comprising a first electrode, the first electrode located, at least in part, at a boundary of the photodetection region and the first charge carrier storage region to form a potential barrier between the photodetection region and the first charge carrier storage region;
- and
- wherein the system comprises a control circuit configured to control the pixel to:
- aggregate, in the first charge carrier storage region, charge carriers at least in part by controlling a voltage of the first electrode to lower the potential barrier to allow charge carrier transfer from the photodetection region to the first charge carrier storage region, the charge carriers produced by the photodetection region in response to a plurality of excitation light pulses;
- read out a signal representative of a quantity of the charge carriers;
- store, in the first charge carrier storage region and in the second charge carrier storage region, respectively, charge carriers received at different times with respect to trigger events;
- and
- lower the potential barrier formed by the first electrode following each of the trigger events.
10 more elements
A method, comprising:
- aggregating, in a first charge carrier storage region of at least one charge carrier storage region of a pixel, charge carriers at least in part by controlling a voltage of a first electrode of at least one electrode to lower a potential barrier to allow charge carrier transfer from a photodetection region of the pixel to the first charge carrier storage region, the first electrode located, at least in part, at a boundary of the photodetection region and the first charge carrier storage region, and the charge carriers produced by the photodetection region in response to a plurality of excitation light pulses;
- reading out a signal representative of a quantity of the charge carriers;
- and
- storing, in the first charge carrier storage region and in a second charge carrier storage region of the at least one charge carrier storage region, respectively, charge carriers received at different times with respect to trigger events,
- wherein the potential barrier formed by the first electrode is lowered following each of the trigger events.
2 more elements
An integrated circuit, comprising:
- a photodetection region configured to receive incident photons, the photodetection region being configured to produce a plurality of charge carriers in response to the incident photons;
- a first charge carrier storage region;
- a second charge carrier storage region;
- a readout region configured to receive charge carriers from each of the first charge carrier storage region and the second charge carrier storage region;
- and
- at least one electrode comprising a first electrode, the first electrode located, at least in part, at a boundary of the photodetection region and the first charge carrier storage region to form a potential barrier between the photodetection region and the first charge carrier storage region,
- wherein the integrated circuit is controllable to:
- aggregate, in the first charge carrier storage region, charge carriers at least in part by lowering the potential barrier formed by the first electrode to allow charge carrier transfer from the photodetection region to the first charge carrier storage region, the charge carriers produced by the photodetection region in response to a plurality of excitation light pulses;
- read out a signal representative of a quantity of the charge carriers;
- store, in the first charge carrier storage region and in the second charge carrier storage region, respectively, charge carriers received at different times with respect to trigger events;
- and
- lower the potential barrier formed by the first electrode following each of the trigger events.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.