US 2009/0014628 A1Published application

Image capturing apparatus

AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation

InventorsYorito Sakano, Sanae Nishida, Kazunobu Kuwazawa, Tetsuo Tatsuda

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

An apparatus including: a photodiode including: a first conductivity substrate; a second conductivity PD-well on the substrate's first surface side; and a first conductivity collection well inside the PD-well; a modulation transistor including: a second conductivity TR-well connected with the PD-well, and a junction depth shallower than that of the PD-well; a first conductivity modulation well inside the TR-well, and connected with the collection well; a second conductivity source inside the modulation well, and including a region contacting the first surface; a gate electrode in a region partially covering the modulation well and enclosing the source; a gate insulation layer between the gate and the first surface; and a second conductivity drain partially sandwiching the gate and opposing the source, and including a region contacting the first surface; and a transfer transistor connected to modulation transistors in pixels between the source and a connected source line.

Claims13

Dependent claims

An image capturing apparatus, characterized by comprising:

a photodiode, including:
a substrate of a first conductive type;
a PD well section of a second conductive type that is disposed on a side of a first surface of the substrate;
and
a collection well section of the first conductive type that is located inside of the PD well section;
a modulation transistor, including:
a TR well section of the second conductive type that is connected with the PD well section, and has a junction depth shallower than a junction depth of the PD well section;
a modulation well section of the first conductive type that is connected with the collection well section, and is located inside of the TR well section;
a source section that is disposed inside of the modulation well section when viewed from above, is of the second conductive type, and includes a region coming in contact with the first surface of the substrate;
a gate electrode that is disposed in a region that covers at least a part of the modulation well section when viewed from above, and encloses the source section;
a gate insulation layer that is disposed at a position sandwiched between the gate electrode and the first surface of the substrate;
and
a drain section that is disposed at least at a part of a position sandwiching the gate electrode and opposing the source section when viewed from above, is of the second conductive type, and includes a region coming in contact with the first surface of the substrate;
and
a transfer transistor that is connected to each a pair of two of the modulation transistors disposed in adjacent pixels between a pair of the source section and a source line being electrically connected to each other, and controls a state of conduction between the source section and the source line by a selection signal.

12 more elements

An image capturing apparatus, characterized by comprising:

a photodiode, including:
a substrate of a first conductive type;
a PD well section of a second conductive type that is disposed on a side of a first surface of the substrate;
and
a collection well section of the first conductive type that is located inside of the PD well section;
a modulation transistor, including:
a TR well section of the second conductive type that is connected with the PD well section, and has a junction depth shallower than a junction depth of the PD well section;
a modulation well section of the first conductive type that is connected with the collection well section, and is located inside of the TR well section;
a source section that is disposed inside of the modulation well section when viewed from above, is of the second conductive type, and includes a region coming in contact with the first surface of the substrate;
a gate electrode that is disposed in a region that covers at least a part of the modulation well section when viewed from above, and encloses a part of the source section;
an element separation layer that encloses the source section together with the gate electrode when viewed from above;
a gate insulation layer that is disposed at a position sandwiched between the gate electrode and the first surface of the substrate;
and
a drain section that is disposed at least at a part of a position sandwiching the gate electrode and opposing the source section when viewed from above, is of the second conductive type, and includes a region coming in contact with the first surface of the substrate;
and
a transfer transistor that is connected to each a pair of two of the modulation transistors disposed in adjacent pixels between a pair of the source section and a source line being electrically connected to each other, and controls a state of conduction between the source section and the source line by a selection signal.

13 more elements

An image capturing apparatus, characterized by comprising:

a photodiode, including:
a substrate of a first conductive type;
a PD well section of a second conductive type that is disposed on a first surface of the substrate;
and
a collection well section of the first conductive type that is located inside of the PD well section;
a modulation transistor, including:
a TR well section of the second conductive type that is connected with the PD well section, and has a junction depth shallower than a junction depth of the PD well section;
a modulation well section of the first conductive type that is connected with the collection well section, and is located inside of the TR well section;
a source section that is disposed inside of the modulation well section when viewed from above, is of the second conductive type, and includes a region coming in contact with the first surface of the substrate;
a gate electrode that is disposed in a region that covers at least a part of the modulation well section when viewed from above, and encloses the source section;
a gate insulation layer that is disposed at a position sandwiched between the gate electrode and the first surface of the substrate;
and
a drain section that is disposed at a part of a position sandwiching the gate electrode and opposing the source section when viewed from above, is of the second conductive type, and includes a region coming in contact with the first surface of the substrate;
and
a transfer transistor in which a transmission TR gate source section and a transmission TR gate drain section are connected to each other between the source section and the source line of each of the modulation transistors, and by a selection signal to be applied to a transmission TR gate electrode, controls a state of conduction between the source section and the source line.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/052,958Filed 21 Mar 2008
Priority: JP 2007-07610523 Mar 2007
Published: 15 Jan 2009
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

H10F 39/803
Constructional details of image sensors: pixels having integrated switching, control, storage or amplification elements
H10F 39/18
Image sensors: complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor [CMOS] image sensors; Photodiode array image sensors
H10F 39/813
Constructional details of image sensors: electronic components shared by multiple pixels, e.g. one amplifier shared by two pixels
H10F
Solar cells and light sensors