Multigate in-pixel source follower
AssigneeTrustees of Dartmouth College
InventorsEric R. Fossum, Wei Deng
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image sensor including one or more pixels is provided. At least one of the pixels can include a semiconductor substrate, a floating diffusion formed in the semiconductor substrate, a transfer gate configured to selectively cause transfer of photo-charges stored in the pixel to the floating diffusion, and a multigate source follower. The multigate source follower can include a channel, a source and a drain coupled by the channel, a modulation gate formed over the channel and coupled to the floating diffusion, and a first guard gate formed over the channel.
Claims20
An image sensor including one or more pixels, at least one of which comprises:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- a floating diffusion formed in the semiconductor substrate;
- a transfer gate configured to selectively cause transfer of photo-charges stored in the pixel to the floating diffusion;
- and
- a multigate source follower including a channel, a source and a drain coupled by the channel, a modulation gate formed over the channel and coupled to the floating diffusion, and a first guard gate formed over the channel and spaced apart from the modulation gate.
A method, comprising:
- providing an image sensor including one or more pixels, at least one of which comprises:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- a floating diffusion formed in the semiconductor substrate;
- a transfer gate configured to selectively cause transfer of photo-charges stored in the pixel to the floating diffusion;
- and
- a multigate source follower including a channel, a source and a drain coupled by the channel, a modulation gate formed over the channel and coupled to the floating diffusion, and a first guard gate formed over the channel and spaced apart from the modulation gate;
- and
- connecting the source of the multigate source follower to a bit line directly.
A multigate source follower for at least one pixel of an image sensor, the source follower comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- a channel formed in the semiconductor substrate;
- a source and a drain formed in the semiconductor substrate and coupled by the channel;
- a modulation gate formed over the channel;
- and a first guard gate formed over the channel and spaced apart from the modulation gate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.