Integrated circuit color chip with cells with integral color filters including triplets of photodiodes with each having integrated therewith transistors for reading from and writing to the photodiode and methods of manufacture and operation thereof

An image detector on a single integrated circuit semiconductor chip comprising:

• said single semiconductor chip comprising an entire image detector formed of integrated circuits,
• said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip including a two-dimensional array of rows and columns of color detector cells with said detector cells being associated with associated passband filter means formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip for selectively detecting electromagnetic radiation within a plurality of bands of electromagnetic information, said associated passband filter means being formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit semiconductor chip,
• each of said detector cells formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip having therein a photodiode a precharge control transistor, and a sensing control transistor for writing signals to and reading signals from said photodiode,
• each of said cells comprising a photodiode with a common drain region formed in said substrate, said common drain region being shared by said precharge control transistor, said sensing control transistor, and said diode between a set of said gate electrodes of said precharge control transistor, said sensing control transistor, and a pair of source regions formed in said substrate adjacent to said gate electrodes, on the distal side thereof from said common drain region, with said drain region and said chip forming a PN photodiode on said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip,
• each of said cells on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip including means for sensing incident electromagnetic radiation of a plurality of predetermined ranges of electromagnetic wavelengths by virtue of said associated passband filter means for said wavelength formed over said photodiodes on said integrated circuit, with said filter means having a diversity of passbands associated with different cells in a said group, wherein said circuit is implemented in a technology selected from the group consisting of CMOS, PMOS, NMOS, BiCMOS and BiMOS technologies on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip, said associated passband filter means being formed on the surface of said semiconductor chip above said detector cells.

An integrated circuit formed on a single semiconductor chip which functions as a color image detector comprising:

• said single semiconductor chip comprising said entire color image detector formed of integrated circuits,
• a two-dimensional array of groups of detector cells formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip, each group comprising several detector cells adapted for sensing a different complementary color passband color,
• each of said detector cells having a photodiode and at least two transistors, including a precharge control transistor, and a sensing control transistor for writing to and reading from said photodiode formed in said single semiconductor chip,
• each of said cells comprising a said photodiode with a common drain region formed in said substrate, said common drain region being shared by said precharge control transistor, said sensing control transistor, and said diode between a set of said gate electrodes of said precharge control transistor, said sensing control transistor, and a pair of source regions formed in said substrate adjacent to said gate electrodes on the distal side thereof from said common drain region, with said drain region and said chip forming a PN photodiode on said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip,
• each of said groups of cells in said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip including means for sensing incident color in the light radiation range of wavelengths of a plurality of predetermined ranges of color wavelengths by virtue of associated passband filter means for said wavelength formed over said photodiodes on said integrated circuit, with said filter means having a diversity of passbands associated with different cells in a said group said filter means formed on the surface of said semiconductor chip above said detector cells, said associated passband filter means being formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip,
• charge sense-amplifiers formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip closely associated with said color detector cells being formed on said semiconductor chip, and
• separate signal paths formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip for the plurality of detector cells within each picture element group being formed on said semiconductor chip, such a scheme ensuring that individual color information is not lost.

An integrated circuit formed on a single semiconductor integrated circuit semiconductor chip which functions as an image detector system, said integrated circuit comprising:

• said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip comprising said entire color image detector formed of integrated circuits,
• a two-dimensional array of rows and columns of color detector cells formed in said formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip with said cells being formed into groups of at least three detector cells,
• each of said detector cells having a photodiode, including a precharge control transistor, and a sensing control transistor for writing signals to and reading signals from said photodiode, formed in a region of said single semiconductor chip,
• each of said cells comprising a said photodiode with a common drain region formed in said substrate, said common drain region being shared by said precharge control transistor, said sensing control transistor, and said diode between a set of said gate electrodes of said precharge control transistor, said sensing control transistor, and a pair of source regions formed in said substrate adjacent to said gate electrodes on the distal side thereof from said common drain region, with said drain region and said chip forming a PN photodiode on said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip,
• each detector cell in a group of said detector cells being associated with a set of passband filter means formed in said said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip, for selectively detecting electromagnetic radiation within a different range of bands of electromagnetic information,
• each of said detector cells including, formed in said chip, means for sensing incident electromagnetic radiation of a plurality of predetermined ranges of electromagnetic wavelengths by virtue of an associated passband filter means formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip, for said wavelength formed on a surface of said photodiodes in said integrated circuit, with said filter means having a diversity of passbands associated with different cells in a said group said filter means formed on the surface of said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip above corresponding ones of said detector cells.

An integrated circuit color camera semiconductor chip comprising:

• said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip comprising said entire integrated circuit color camera formed of integrated circuits,
• a two-dimensional array of rows and columns of color detector cells, each having a surface, with said cells being formed into groups of at least three detector cells formed in said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip,
• each of said detector cells having a photodiode, a precharge control transistor, and a sensing control transistor for writing signals to and reading signals from said photodiode formed on a region of said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip,
• each of said cells comprising a said photodiode with a common drain region formed in said substrate, said common drain region being shared by the precharge control transistor, the sensing control transistor, and the diode between a set of said gate electrodes of the precharge control transistor, the sensing control transistor, and a pair of source regions formed in the substrate adjacent to said gate electrodes on the distal side thereof from the common drain region, with said drain region and said chip forming a PN photodiode on said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip,
• said detector cells, formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip, each of the cells being covered with an adjustable passband filter means formed on the surface thereof said adjustable passband filter means formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip being adapted for sequentially varying the electromagnetic radiation within a different range of bands of electromagnetic information as a function of time, said passband filter means formed on the surface of said semiconductor chip above said detector cells,
• each of said detector cells, formed on said chip, including means for sensing incident electromagnetic radiation formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip, and
• formed on said single semiconductor integrated circuit chip is means for multiplexing the detected signals from said cells to provide multiple electrical passband output signals from said cells.

A method of forming an integrated circuit image detector cell formed on a single lightly doped P- integrated circuit semiconductor chip by the steps comprising:

• forming a gate oxide layer on said chip,
• forming a blanket layer of polysilicon on said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip,
• patterning said polysilicon layer into a set of gate electrodes of a precharge control transistor and a sensing control transistor on said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip,
• forming a photodiode having a surface in a said detector cell with a common drain region of said photodiode, said precharge control transistor and said sensing control transistor, said common drain region being located between said set of said gate electrodes, and forming a pair of source regions adjacent to said gate electrodes on the distal side thereof from said common drain region by ion implantation into said substrate of said chip, with said drain region and said chip forming a PN photodiode in said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip,
• said cell being formed in a region of said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip, and
• depositing a radiation passband filter over said photodiode on said surface of said photodiode.

A camera on a chip, comprising:

• a substrate, including an array of pixesl with each including a detector cell comprising a light collecting element which each receives light and stores electronic information in an amount indicative of an amount of light received;
• each of said detector cells in said substrate of said chip having a photodiode, a precharge control transistor, and a sensing control transistor formed in said chip for writing signals to and reading signals from said photodiode,
• each of said cells comprising a photodiode with a common drain region in said substrate, said common drain region being shared by said precharge control transistor, said sensing control transistor, and said diode between a set of said gate electrodes of said precharge control transistor, said sensing control transistor, and a pair of source regions formed in said substrate adjacent to said gate electrodes on the distal side thereof from said common drain region, with said drain region and said chip forming a PN photodiode on said single integrated circuit semiconductor chip, and
• processing means integrated on said substrate comprising:
• an array of charge sense-amplifiers formed on said chip closely associated with said light collecting elements,
• a single matrix detector array providing accurate radiation band image reproduction in a radiation band image sensing system,
• wherein circuitry in said control area is formed of MOS devices and said pixel area incorporates MOS devices.