1271 results about "Floating diffusion" patented technology

The surface of a semiconductor substrate (1) comprises an input diode section (2) and a floating diffusion section (3) consisting of a diffusion region reverse to the substrate in conductivity type, an input gate (6) and an output gate (7) fixed on an insulation film (5) extending from an input diode section to a floating diffusion section, a sensing section (9) consisting of an ion sensitive film fixed on the insulation film extending from the input.

A solid state image pickup device which can prevent color mixture by using a layout of a capacitor region provided separately from a floating diffusion region and a camera using such a device are provided. A photodiode region is a rectangular region including a photodiode. A capacitor region includes a carrier holding unit and is arranged on one side of the rectangle of the photodiode region as a region having a side longer than the one side. In a MOS unit region, an output unit region including an output unit having a side longer than the other side which crosses the one side of the rectangle of the photodiode region is arranged on the other side. A gate region and the FD region are arranged between the photodiode region and the capacitor region.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a photoelectric conversion apparatus with less leak current in a floating diffusion region. In order to obtain the above object, a photoelectric conversion apparatus according to the present invention includes a photodiode for converting light into a signal charge, a first semiconductor region having a first conductivity type, a floating diffusion region formed from a second semiconductor region having a second conductivity type for converting the signal charge generated by the photodiode into a signal voltage, the second semiconductor region being formed in the first semiconductor region, and an electrode formed above the first semiconductor region through an insulating film and having an effect of increasing a concentration of majority carriers in the first semiconductor region, in which the electrode is not formed above a depletion region formed from the second semiconductor region.

A pixel circuit, and method of forming a pixel circuit, an imager device, and a processing system include a photo-conversion device, a floating diffusion region for receiving and storing charge from the photo-conversion device, and a transparent transistor for use in operation of the pixel, wherein the transparent transistor is at least partially over the photo-conversion device, such that the photo-conversion device receives light passing through the transparent transistor.

A CMOS sensor array includes a plurality of unit blocks. A unit block includes: N pairs of photo diode regions arranged in a first direction; 2N transfer transistors respectively corresponding to the photo diode regions, wherein each of the transfer transistors is formed at a corner of the corresponding photo diode region, and wherein for each pair of photo diode regions the two corresponding transfer transistors symmetrically oppose each other; N floating diffusion nodes, wherein each of the floating diffusion nodes is respectively arranged between a pair of photo diode regions, and wherein each of the floating diffusion nodes is shared by the two corresponding transfer transistors and the pair of photo diode regions; at least one metal line for coupling the floating diffusion nodes; a reset transistor for resetting a voltage of the floating diffusion nodes; a readout circuit including at least one transistor for sampling the floating diffusion node, wherein the reset transistor and the readout circuit are disposed between the pair of photo diode regions.

Disclosed is an imaging device including a photodiode and floating diffusion region formed to be spaced from each other on a surface layer of a pixel region of a silicon (semiconductor) substrate, and a transfer gate having one of a concave and convex portions toward the floating diffusion region, the transfer gate being formed above the silicon substrate between the photodiode and the floating diffusion region by interposing a gate insulating film therebetween.

A pixel cell array architecture having a dual conversion gain. A dual conversion gain element is coupled between a floating diffusion region and a respective storage capacitor. The dual conversion gain element having a control gate switches in the capacitance of the capacitor to change the conversion gain of the floating diffusion region from a first conversion gain to a second conversion gain. In order to increase the efficient use of space, the dual conversion gain element gate also functions as the bottom plate of the capacitor. In one particular embodiment of the invention, a high dynamic range transistor is used in conjunction with a pixel cell having a capacitor-DCG gate combination; in another embodiment, adjacent pixels share pixel components, including the capacitor-DCG combination.

A pixel circuit, and a method for operating a high-low sensitivity (HLS) pixel circuit, to provide increased dynamic range in an imager. The pixel circuit combines a four transistor (“4T”) and a three-transistor plus capacitor (“3TC”) configuration in one pixel, where the 4T portion of the pixel is coupled to a high sensitivity buried photodiode region, and the 3TC portion of the pixel is coupled to a low sensitivity buried photodiode region. The pixel circuit first reads out charge from the high sensitivity photodiode region and compares it to a reset voltage, then reads out charge from the low sensitivity photodiode region. Under an alternate embodiment, multiple HLS pixels are coupled through a common floating diffusion node.