Invention Grant
- Patent Title: CMOS image sensor with dual floating diffusions per pixel for flicker-free detection of light emitting diodes
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Application No.: US15285352Application Date: 2016-10-04
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Publication No.: US09936153B1Publication Date: 2018-04-03
- Inventor: Duli Mao , Trygve Willassen , Johannes Solhusvik , Keiji Mabuchi , Gang Chen , Sohei Manabe , Dyson H. Tai , Bill Phan , Oray Orkun Cellek , Zhiqiang Lin
- Applicant: OMNIVISION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
- Applicant Address: US CA Santa Clara
- Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
- Current Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US CA Santa Clara
- Agency: Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness PLLC
- Main IPC: H04N5/361
- IPC: H04N5/361 ; H04N5/374 ; H04N5/378 ; H01L27/146

Abstract:
Apparatuses and methods for image sensors with pixels that reduce or eliminate flicker induced by high intensity illumination are disclosed. An example image sensor may include a photodiode, a transfer gate, an anti-blooming gate, and first and second source follower transistors. The photodiode may capture light and generate charge in response, and the photodiode may have a charge capacity. The transfer gate may selectively transfer charge to a first floating diffusion, and the anti-blooming gate may selectively transfer excess charge to a second floating diffusion when the generated charge is greater than the photodiode charge capacity. The first source-follower transistor may be directly coupled to the first floating diffusion by a gate, the first source-follower to selectively output a first signal to a first bitline in response to enablement of a first row selection transistor, and the second source-follower transistor may be capacitively-coupled to the second floating diffusion, the second source-follower to selectively output a second signal to a second bitline in response to enablement of a second row selection transistor.
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