Active Pixel Sensor with wired floating diffusions and shared amplifier
First Claim
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1. An image sensor having a plurality of pixels arranged in a series of row and columns comprising:
- a semiconductor material of a first conductivity type;
at least two adjacent pixels formed within the semiconductor material, each of the pixels having a charge to voltage conversion region operatively coupled to a photodetector such that the charge to voltage conversion regions are spatially isolated from each other; and
an interconnect layer that permanently shorts together the charge to voltage conversion regions.
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Abstract
An image sensor having a plurality of pixels arranged in a series of row and columns comprising a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of pixels formed in rows and columns with at least two pixels that each have a voltage to charge conversion region that are spatially isolated from each other and electrically connected to the source of a single reset transistor. The pixels that share a reset transistor can also share an amplifier, and a select electrical function. The preferred embodiment envisions adjacent pixels, although, immediate adjacency is not a requirement.
321 Citations
18 Claims
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1. An image sensor having a plurality of pixels arranged in a series of row and columns comprising:
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a semiconductor material of a first conductivity type;
at least two adjacent pixels formed within the semiconductor material, each of the pixels having a charge to voltage conversion region operatively coupled to a photodetector such that the charge to voltage conversion regions are spatially isolated from each other; and
an interconnect layer that permanently shorts together the charge to voltage conversion regions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An image sensor having a plurality of pixels arranged in a series of row and columns comprising:
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a semiconductor material of a first conductivity type;
a predetermined subset of pixels comprising at least two pixels formed within the semiconductor material, each of the pixels having a charge to voltage conversion region operatively coupled to a photodetector such that the charge to voltage conversion regions are spatially isolated from each other; and
an interconnect layer that permanently shorts together the charge to voltage conversion regions. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification