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US 8,507,964 B2Granted
Image sensor having waveguides formed in color filters
AssigneeOmniVision Technologies, Inc.
InventorsHidetoshi Nozaki, Fei Wu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image sensor having an array of pixels disposed in a substrate. The array of pixels includes photosensitive elements, a color filters, and waveguide walls. The waveguide walls are disposed in the color filters and surround portions of the color filters to form waveguides through the color filters. In some embodiments, metal walls may be coupled to the waveguide walls.
Claims17
An image sensor, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate having first and second sides;
- an array of pixels disposed in or on the semiconductor substrate, the array of pixels comprising:
- a plurality of photosensitive elements disposed in the semiconductor substrate and responsive to light incident through the first side of the semiconductor substrate;
- a stack of metal layers disposed over a second side of the semiconductor substrate;
- a plurality of color filters disposed over the first side of the semiconductor substrate;
- and
- a plurality of waveguide walls disposed in the plurality of color filters, where the plurality of waveguide walls are surrounding the plurality of color filters forming a plurality of waveguides, wherein each of the waveguides is associated with a corresponding one of the photosensitive elements disposed in the semiconductor substrate on a one-to-one basis;
- and
- a passivation layer disposed between the photosensitive elements and the waveguide walls.
6 more elements
An image sensor, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate having first and second sides;
- and
- an array of pixels disposed in or on the semiconductor substrate, the array of pixels comprising:
- a plurality of photosensitive elements disposed in the semiconductor substrate and responsive to light incident through the first side of the semiconductor substrate;
- a stack of metal layers disposed over a second side of the semiconductor substrate;
- a plurality of color filters disposed over the first side of the semiconductor substrate;
- and
- a plurality of waveguide walls disposed in the plurality of color filters, where the plurality of waveguide walls are surrounding the plurality of color filters forming a plurality of waveguides, wherein each of the waveguides is associated with a corresponding one of the photosensitive elements disposed in the semiconductor substrate on a one-to-one basis,
- wherein an individual color filter in the plurality of color filters and an individual waveguide wall in the plurality of waveguide walls are shifted with respect to a corresponding individual photosensitive element, in proximity to an edge of the array of pixels.
6 more elements
An image sensor, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate having first and second sides;
- and
- an array of pixels disposed in or on the semiconductor substrate, the array of pixels further comprising:
- a plurality of photosensitive elements disposed in the semiconductor substrate and responsive to light incident through the first side of the semiconductor substrate;
- a stack of metal layers disposed over a second side of the semiconductor substrate;
- a plurality of color filters disposed over the first side of the semiconductor substrate;
- and
- a plurality of waveguide walls disposed in the plurality of color filters, where the plurality of waveguide walls are surrounding the plurality of color filters forming a plurality of waveguides, wherein each of the waveguides is associated with a corresponding one of the photosensitive elements disposed in the semiconductor substrate on a one-to-one basis, wherein at least one of the waveguide walls is shared between two adjacent color filters along opposite sides of the waveguide walls.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.