Method and apparatus for collecting photons in a solid state imaging sensor
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An imaging device, comprising:
- a substrate;
a plurality of photosensors arranged within said substrate to receive light;
an insulating layer formed over said plurality of photosensors;
an opening provided in said insulating layer over each photosensor through which said light is received; and
a light reflecting layer formed on an internal sidewall of each opening.
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Abstract
A photon collector has a reflecting metal layer to increase photon collection efficiency in a solid state imaging sensor. The reflecting metal layer reflects incident light internally to a photosensor. A plurality of photon collectors is formed in a wafer substrate over an array of photosensors. The photon collector is formed in an opening in an insulating layer provided over each photosensor.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. An imaging device, comprising:
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a substrate;
a plurality of photosensors arranged within said substrate to receive light;
an insulating layer formed over said plurality of photosensors;
an opening provided in said insulating layer over each photosensor through which said light is received; and
a light reflecting layer formed on an internal sidewall of each opening. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A CMOS imaging device, comprising:
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an insulating layer;
a CMOS array of photodiodes arranged within said insulating layer;
a plurality of openings in said insulating layer formed over a respective photodiode, each opening having sidewalls and a light-reflecting metal layer formed on said sidewalls, the metal layer reflecting light received within its opening to its respective photodiode, each opening being filled with an optically transparent material;
a color filter layer disposed over said array of photodiodes; and
a lens layer disposed over said color filter layer.
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17. An image pixel array in an imaging device, comprising:
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a plurality of photon collectors formed over a plurality of photosensors for receiving light energy, each photon collector having an interior space capable of receiving light and reflecting the light to at least one of said photosensors, said interior space being defined by reflecting inner surfaces of each photon collector; and
a color filter formed over each said photon collector. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of fabricating an imaging device, said method comprising:
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forming a plurality of photosensors on a wafer;
forming a structure with sidewalls in an insulating layer on said wafer provided over said photosensors; and
depositing a reflecting material on said sidewalls of each structure. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of fabricating an imaging device, said method comprising:
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forming a photodiode beneath an insulating layer;
providing an etch stop layer over said photodiode;
etching an opening in the semiconductor substrate above the photodiode to said etch stop layer;
depositing a light-reflecting metal on sidewalls of said opening with a collimated source of said light-reflecting metal; and
filling said opening with a optically transparent material.
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37. A method of obtaining an image using an imaging device, said method comprising:
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targeting an object with an imaging device having a lens structure;
passing light reflected from said object as focused light through said lens structure and into a plurality of photon collectors formed in an insulating layer;
reflecting at least some of the focused light off of reflecting layers provided on sidewalls of said photon collectors; and
sensing said focused light passed into said plurality of photon collectors with an array of photodiodes arranged to respectively correspond with said photon collectors.
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38. An imager system, comprising:
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(i) a processor; and
(ii) an imaging device coupled to said processor, said imaging device comprising;
an insulating layer;
a plurality of photodiodes beneath said insulating layer;
a plurality of photon collectors, each photon collector being formed in said insulating layer over a respective photodiode, each photon collector arranged to receive light and reflect the light within an interior space of the photon collector to said photodiode; and
a reflecting layer deposited on said inner surfaces of each photon collector. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41)
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Specification