Vertical pump-gate charge transfer for high-conversion-gain CMOS image sensor pixels
AssigneeGigajot Technology, Inc.
InventorJiaju Ma
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image sensor may include a plurality of pixels. At least some of the pixels may each include a photodiode having a charge accumulation region (“PD”), a floating diffusion region (“FD”), and a vertical gate transfer (“GT”). The GT may include one or more charge transfer regions formed vertically between PD and FD. The GT may also include a gate control region (“gate”) that may be formed in a vertical trench and be disposed laterally proximate the one or more charge transfer regions of the GT. By applying a control signal to the gate, the GT may selectively transfer at least some charge accumulated in PD to FD vertically through the one or more charge transfer regions of GT between PD and FD.
Claims20
An image sensor, comprising:
- a plurality of pixels, wherein at least some of the pixels each comprises:
- a photodiode comprising a charge accumulation region configured to accumulate charge when exposed to light;
- a floating diffusion region;
- and
- a transfer gate comprising:
- one or more charge transfer regions formed vertically between the charge accumulation region and floating diffusion region;
- and
- a gate control region positioned horizontally proximate the charge transfer regions,
- wherein the transfer gate is configured to selectively transfer at least some of the charge from the charge accumulation region to the floating diffusion region through the charge transfer regions vertically between the charge accumulation region and floating diffusion region.
A system, comprising:
- one or more lenses;
- an image sensor comprising a plurality of pixels configured to receive light through the lenses,
- wherein at least some of the pixels each comprises:
- a photodiode comprising a charge accumulation region configured to accumulate charge when exposed to the light passing through the lenses;
- a floating diffusion region;
- and
- a transfer gate comprising:
- one or more charge transfer regions formed vertically between the charge accumulation region and floating diffusion region;
- and
- a gate control region positioned horizontally proximate the charge transfer regions,
- wherein the transfer gate is configured to selectively transfer at least some of the charge from the charge accumulation region to the floating diffusion region through the charge transfer regions vertically between the charge accumulation region and floating diffusion region.
A device, comprising:
- an image capturing device, comprising:
- one or more lenses;
- an image sensor comprising a plurality of pixels configured to receive light through the lenses, wherein at least some of the pixels each comprises:
- a photodiode comprising a charge accumulation region configured to accumulate charge when exposed to the light passing through the lenses;
- a floating diffusion region;
- and
- a transfer gate comprising:
- one or more charge transfer regions formed vertically between the charge accumulation region and floating diffusion region;
- and
- a gate control region positioned horizontally proximate the charge transfer regions,
- wherein the transfer gate is configured to selectively transfer at least some of the charge from the charge accumulation region to the floating diffusion region through the charge transfer regions vertically between the charge accumulation region and floating diffusion region, and
- one or more circuits configured to generate volage signals based on the charge transferred to the floating diffusion regions of the at least some pixels;
- and
- an image signal processor configured to process the voltage signals to produce one or more images.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.