Back to results
US 8,576,312 B2Granted
Solid-state image pickup device with particular pixel arrangement
AssigneeRosnes Corporation
InventorSougo Ohta
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a solid-state image pickup device according to this invention, because a photodiode 2 has a side close to a transfer transistor 3 is longer than an opposite side of the photodiode 2, the transfer transistor 3 can be increased in width. Therefore, it is possible to miniaturize the size of a pixel without causing deterioration in reading property. As a result, this invention can provide the solid-state image pickup device that achieves further miniaturization of pixels by applying an efficient layout of the pixels.
Claims5
A solid-state image pickup device comprising on a semiconductor substrate:
- a plurality of photodiodes that are disposed in a matrix (i, j) to convert light beams into signal charges and accumulate the signal charges;
- an electric charge transfer transistor for reading out the signal charges accumulated in the photodiodes;
- a floating diffusion for converting into electric potentials the signal charges that are photoelectrically converted by the photodiodes and are read out by the electric charge transfer transistor;
- a reset transistor for resetting the signal charges;
- and
- an amplifier transistor for amplifying the read out signal charges,
- the reset transistor and the amplifier transistor being shared by the plurality of photodiodes,
- a distance d1 between a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i, j) and a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i, j+1) being different from a distance d2 between a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i+1, j) and a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i+1, j+1), and
- a distance d3 between the center of gravity of the region for sensing the light beams in the photodiode (i, j+1) and a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i, j+2) being equal to the distance d2, wherein
- each of the photodiodes has a side close to the transfer transistor is longer than a side opposite thereto, and
- wherein
- each of the photodiodes is provided with a large number of vertices on a side disposed in a direction perpendicular to the side close to the transfer transistor, the side disposed in the direction perpendicular to the side close to the transfer transistor connecting the side close to the transfer transistor and the side opposite thereto.
9 more elements
The solid-state image pickup device according to claim l, wherein
- the number of the vertices is at least two.
A solid-state image pickup device comprising on a semiconductor substrate:
- a plurality of photodiodes that are disposed in a matrix (i, j) to convert light beams into signal charges and accumulate the signal charges;
- an electric charge transfer transistor for reading out the signal charges accumulated in the photodiodes;
- a floating diffusion for converting into electric potentials the signal charges that are photoelectrically converted by the photodiodes and are read out by the electric charge transfer transistor;
- a reset transistor for resetting the signal charges;
- and
- an amplifier transistor for amplifying the read out signal charges,
- the reset transistor and the amplifier transistor being shared by the plurality of photodiodes,
- a distance d1 between a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i, j) and a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i, j+1) being different from a distance d2 between a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i+1, j) and a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i+1, j+1), and
- a distance d3 between the center of gravity of the region for sensing the light beams in the photodiode (i, j+1) and a center of gravity of a region for sensing the light beams in a photodiode (i, j+2) being equal to the distance d2, wherein
- each of the photodiodes has a side close to the transfer transistor is longer than a side opposite thereto, wherein
- an active region for disposing the reset transistor or the amplifier transistor has a polygonal shape provided with at least five sides, and each of the sides is in parallel with a side of an adjacent active region.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.