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US 7,119,321 B2Granted
Optical channels for multi-level metal optical imagers
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorSion C. Quinlan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The manufacture of multi-level optical imagers and the resulting imagers are described. Multiple levels of metallization are prepared, each level having a via. The vias are aligned and a material having a higher refractive index than its surrounds is positioned within the vias to form an optical channel. The higher refractive index material may be an optical plug. A lens is mounted at one end of the optical channel and a photoconversion device is mounted at the other end.
Claims37
An optical imager, comprising:
- a lens;
- a light device;
- a first dielectric material comprising first and second dielectric material portions, each of said first and second dielectric material portions capped with a stop layer;
- and
- a second dielectric material extending through said first dielectric material and said stop layers, said second dielectric material exhibiting a refractive index greater than the refractive index exhibited by said first dielectric material and serving as an optical channel optically connecting said lens with said light device.
2 more elements
An optical imager, comprising:
- a lens;
- a light device;
- a first dielectric material comprising first, second, and third dielectric material portions;
- and
- a second dielectric material extending through said first dielectric material, said second dielectric material exhibiting a refractive index greater than the refractive index exhibited by said first dielectric material and serving as an optical channel optically connecting said lens with said light device.
2 more elements
An optical imager, comprising:
- a lens;
- a photogate;
- a first dielectric material;
- and
- a second dielectric material extending through said first dielectric material, said second dielectric material exhibiting a refractive index greater than the refractive index exhibited by said first dielectric material and serving as an optical channel optically connecting said lens with said light device.
2 more elements
An optical coupling between a lens and a light device, comprising:
- a via extending between the lens and the light device;
- a first optical channel section extending through a portion of said via;
- and
- at least a second optical channel section extending through the remainder of said via;
- wherein said optical channel sections exhibit a refractive index greater than the material surrounding said optical channel sections.
2 more elements
A multi-level optical imager, comprising:
- a plurality of intermediate structures built over a pixel cell, each intermediate structure comprising:
- a dielectric material portion;
- a stop layer capping said dielectric material portion;
- and
- an optical channel section extending through said dielectric material portion and said stop layer;
- a lens;
- and
- a light device within said pixel cell;
- wherein said optical channel sections are aligned with each other to form an optical channel optically connecting said lens with said light device.
6 more elements
An optical imager, comprising:
- a lens;
- a light device;
- and
- at least one metallized layer structure, comprising:
- a first dielectric material;
- a metallized portion within said first dielectric material;
- and
- a second dielectric material extending through said first dielectric material, said second dielectric material exhibiting a refractive index greater than the refractive index exhibited by said first dielectric material and serving as an optical channel optically connecting said lens with said light device.
5 more elements
A multi-level optical imager, comprising:
- a first intermediate structure comprising:
- a first dielectric material portion;
- a first stop layer over said first dielectric material portion;
- a first optical channel section extending through said first dielectric material portion and said first stop layer, said first optical channel section including an optical plug;
- a second intermediate structure comprising:
- a second dielectric material portion;
- a second stop layer over said second dielectric material portion;
- a second optical channel section extending through said second dielectric material portion and said second stop layer to said optical plug;
- a lens mounted on said second intermediate structure;
- and
- a photoconversion device for producing charge from incident light upon which said first intermediate structure is mounted;
- wherein said first and second optical channel sections are aligned with each other to form an optical channel optically connecting said lens with said photoconversion device.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.