Method of manufacturing an image sensor
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorsNeil C. Bird, Ian D. French, Brian P. McGarvey
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Abstract
An image sensor comprising an array of pixels 2, each pixel 2 including a pin or nip photodiode P. At least the intrinsic semiconductor layer of the photodiodes of a group of pixels is shared between those pixels and acts as a barrier to reduce edge leakage currents A group of pixels may be a row of pixels, or may be all pixels of the array.
Claims16
An image sensor comprising an array of photoresponsive pixels provided on a common substrate, each pixel comprising a photodiode having a first semiconductor region of first doping type, an intrinsic semiconductor region over the first semiconductor region, and a second semiconductor region of second, opposite, doping type, over the intrinsic semiconductor region, characterised in that the intrinsic semiconductor region extends between photodiodes within a group of pixels.
An image sensor as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the photodiode comprises an intrinsic amorphous silicon layer disposed over a doped bottom conductor, the doped conductor thereby forming regions of the first doping type into the intrinsic layer, and a semiconductor layer of the second doping type over the intrinsic semiconductor layer.
A method of manufacturing an image sensor comprising an array of pixels, each comprising a respective photodiode, the method comprising:
- depositing a conductive bottom contact layer over an insulating substrate, and patterning the contact layer with a first etching step;
- depositing semiconductor layers and a capacitor dielectric layer over the patterned bottom contact layer to define a photodiode-capacitor pixel structure over the entire array;
- and
- depositing a top contact layer over the semiconductor and capacitor dielectric layers, and patterning the top contact layer with a second etching step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.