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US 2004/0169209 A1Published application
Multi junction APS with dual simultaneous integration
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorsVladimir Berezin, Eric R. Fossum
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Abstract
A new kind of pixel is formed of two floating diffusions of different sizes and different conductivity type. The two floating diffusions have different image characteristics, and hence form a knee-shaped slope.
Claims21
A sensor, comprising:
- a substrate of a first conductivity type;
- a semiconductor well of a second conductivity type in said substrate;
- a first floating diffusion of a first size, in contact with first semiconductor well;
- a second floating diffusion, separate from said first floating diffusion, and of a second size different from said first size, also in contact with said semiconductor well;
- and
- first and second output transistors, respectively connected to said first and second floating diffusions.
3 more elements
A photosensor, comprising:
- a substrate of a first conductivity type;
- a first semiconductor well, of a second conductivity type formed within said first conductivity type substrate;
- a first floating diffusion of a first size and a first conductivity, formed in said semiconductor well;
- a second floating diffusion of said second conductivity type, also formed at least partly within said well, wherein one of said first and second floating diffusions is larger than the other of said first and second floating diffusions;
- and
- transistor connection elements, enabling connection to said first and second floating diffusions, to obtain outputs indicative of an amount of light collected thereby.
3 more elements
A method of converting light to a signal comprising:
- receiving the light simultaneously in a first floating diffusion of a first size and first conductivity type, and a second floating diffusion of a second size and second conductivity type, wherein the first floating diffusion is larger than the second floating diffusion and produces an output indicative of a different gradation of the incoming light;
- and
- sampling said first floating diffusion using a transistor of said first conductivity type and sampling the second floating diffusion using a transistor of said second conductivity type.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.