Image sensor pixels with junction gate photodiodes
AssigneeAptina Imaging Corporation
InventorJaroslav Hynecek
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Image sensor pixels are provided having junction gate photodiodes. A group of pixels may have a shared floating diffusion region and a shared source-follower transistor. The source-follower transistor may be a JFET source-follower with a gate that forms the floating diffusion region. The JFET source-follower may be a vertical or lateral JFET. A reset diode may be forward-biased to reset the floating diffusion region. Each pixel may have a JFET that serves as a charge transfer barrier between the junction gate photodiode and the floating diffusion region. The charge transfer barrier JFET may be a lateral JFET. The image sensor pixels may be formed without any metal-oxide-semiconductor devices.
Claims19
Pixels on a pixel array, comprising:
- a plurality of junction gate photodiodes;
- a plurality of junction gate field-effect transistors each coupled to a respective one of the junction gate photodiodes;
- a junction gate field-effect transistor source-follower having a gate connected to the plurality of junction gate field-effect transistors, wherein the gate forms a floating diffusion node for the pixel;
- and
- a reset diode configured to reset the floating diffusion node in the pixel.
A pixel array having pixels, comprising:
- a junction gate field-effect transistor source-follower having a gate that forms a floating diffusion node;
- a reset diode that resets the floating diffusion node;
- and
- a plurality of junction gate photodiodes coupled to the floating diffusion node.
A pixel array for an image sensor, comprising:
- a plurality of pixels, wherein each pixel in the plurality of pixels comprises a junction gate photodiode;
- a junction gate field-effect transistor source-follower for the plurality of pixels, wherein the junction gate field-effect transistor source-follower has a gate that forms a floating diffusion region for the plurality of pixels and wherein the junction gate field-effect transistor source-follower is coupled to an output for the plurality of pixels;
- and
- a reset diode that is configured to reset the floating diffusion region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.