公开(公告)号：US11335825B2

公开(公告)日：2022-05-17

申请号：US17030203

申请日：2020-09-23

Applicant: IMEC vzw ,  Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Inventor： Edward Van Sieleghem

IPC: H01L31/0352 ,  H01L27/144 ,  H01L31/107 ,  H01L31/0216 ,  H01L31/0224

Abstract: A single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) is disclosed. In one aspect, the SPAD comprises an inner doped region, a geometrical structure of a boundary of the inner doped region rotationally symmetric in a horizontal direction of a substrate; at least one outer doped region connected to a second terminal, the at least one outer doped region arranged to at least partially enclose the inner doped region and the outer doped region comprising dopant implantations of a different type than the inner doped region; a lowly doped depletion volume arranged to surround the inner doped region, a depth of the lowly doped depletion volume extending from the top surface of the substrate into the substrate being larger than a depth of the at least one outer doped region, and when a reverse bias is applied to an anode, an electric field peak around the inner doped region being formed to enable impact ionization and multiplication of charges.

公开(公告)号：US11335597B2

公开(公告)日：2022-05-17

申请号：US16945858

申请日：2020-08-01

Applicant: IMEC VZW

Inventor： Eugenio Dentoni Litta ,  Anshul Gupta ,  Julien Ryckaert ,  Boon Teik Chan

IPC: H01L21/768 ,  H01L21/306 ,  H01L21/3065 ,  H01L21/8234

Abstract: A method for forming a buried metal line in a substrate includes forming, at a position between a pair of semiconductor structures protruding from the substrate, a metal line trench in the substrate at a level below a base of each semiconductor structure of the pair. Forming the metal line trench includes etching an upper trench portion in the substrate, forming a spacer on sidewall surfaces of the upper trench portion that expose a bottom surface of the upper trench portion, and, while the spacer masks the sidewall surfaces, etching a lower trench portion by etching the substrate via the upper trench portion such that a width of the lower trench portion exceeds a width of the upper trench portion. The method further includes forming the metal line in the metal line trench.

公开(公告)号：US20220140276A1

公开(公告)日：2022-05-05

申请号：US17502708

申请日：2021-10-15

Applicant: Imec vzw

Inventor： Tung Huei Ke ,  David Cheyns ,  Pawel Malinowski

IPC: H01L51/50 ,  H01L51/52 ,  H01L51/56

Abstract: A semiconductor device comprises a substrate, a first hole-transporting layer over the substrate, a first electron-transporting layer on the first hole-transporting layer, and a second hole-transporting layer over the first electron-transporting layer. At least one of the first electron-transporting layer and the second hole-transporting layer has an organic component. The device is characterized by one of the following: a metal oxide layer present on the first electron-transporting layer, wherein a second electron-transporting layer is on the metal oxide layer, wherein the second hole-transporting layer is on the second electron-transporting layer, or the second hole transporting layer has a first p-doped hole-transporting surface present on the first electron-transporting, layer and a second p-doped hole-transporting surface facing away from the first p-doped hole-transporting surface, or the first electron-transporting layer is on a top surface and on sidewalls of the first hole-transporting layer.

公开(公告)号：US11320303B2

公开(公告)日：2022-05-03

申请号：US16840269

申请日：2020-04-03

Applicant: IMEC VZW ,  KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN

Inventor： Wouter Jan Westerveld ,  Roelof Jansen ,  Xavier Rottenberg ,  Veronique Rochus

IPC: G01H9/00

Abstract: Embodiments relate to a sensor structure for an acoustical pressure sensor and an opto-mechanical sensor and system that may be used for detecting acoustical pressure waves. Embodiments of a sensor structure for an acoustical pressure sensor include an optical waveguide closed-loop resonator and a plurality of sensor elements. The individual sensor elements of the plurality of sensor elements are configured to be affected by an acoustical pressure wave such that a physical property of the individual sensor element is changed. The optical waveguide closed-loop resonator is arranged at the plurality of sensor elements and associated with each of the individual sensor elements such that a resonance frequency of the optical waveguide closed-loop resonator is shifted due to the affected physical properties of all individual sensor elements. The sensor structure provides a high sensitivity from each sensor element, which is advantageous in e.g. ultrasonic imaging, such as photo-acoustic imaging where the signals typically are low.

公开(公告)号：US20220113254A1

公开(公告)日：2022-04-14

申请号：US17428607

申请日：2020-02-14

Applicant: IMEC VZW

Inventor： Finub JAMES SHIRLEY ,  Pol VAN DORPE

IPC: G01N21/64 ,  G01N21/49

Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus for detecting photoluminescent light emitted from a sample, said apparatus (200; 300) comprising at least one light source (210; 310, 318), which is configured to emit light of a first and a second wavelength towards a sample comprising photoluminescent particles, wherein said first wavelength is an excitation wavelength for inducing photo-luminescent light from said photoluminescent particles, and wherein said second wavelength is longer than said first wavelength and for gathering background noise information from said sample. The apparatus further comprises a photo-detector (206) for detecting light incident on the photo-detector (206); and an interference filter (204; 304) arranged on the photo-detector (206), wherein the interference filter (204; 304) is configured to selectively collect and transmit light towards the photo-detector (206) based on an angle of incidence of the light towards the interference filter (204; 304), wherein the interference filter (204; 304) is configured to selectively transmit supercritical angle light from the sample towards the photo-detector (206) and suppress undercritical angle light from the sample.

公开(公告)号：US11298057B2

公开(公告)日：2022-04-12

申请号：US17369517

申请日：2021-07-07

Applicant: Brolis Sensor Technology, UAB ,  Universiteit Gent ,  IMEC VZW

Inventor： Augustinas Vizbaras ,  Kristijonas Vizbaras ,  Ieva {hacek over (S)}imonytė ,  Günther Roelkens

IPC: A61B5/1455 ,  H01S5/026 ,  G01N21/39 ,  H01S5/125 ,  H01S5/20

Abstract: A spectroscopic laser sensor based on hybrid III-V/IV system-on-a-chip technology. The laser sensor is configured to either (i) be used with a fiber-optic probe connected to an intravenous/intra-arterial optical catheter for direct invasive blood analyte concentration level measurement or (ii) be used to measure blood analyte concentration level non-invasively through an optical interface attached, e.g., to the skin or fingernail bed of a human. The sensor includes a III-V gain-chip, e.g., an AlGaInAsSb/GaSb based gain-chip and a photonic integrated circuit, with laser wavelength filtering, laser wavelength tuning, laser wavelength monitoring, laser signal monitoring and signal output sections realized on a chip by combining IV-based semiconductor substrates and flip-chip AlGaInAsSb/GaSb based photodetectors and embedded electronics for signal processing. Embodiments of the invention may be applied for real-time monitoring of critical blood analyte concentration levels such as lactates, urea, glucose, ammonia, albumin, etc.

公开(公告)号：US20220093734A1

公开(公告)日：2022-03-24

申请号：US17476747

申请日：2021-09-16

Applicant: IMEC VZW

Inventor： Boon Teik CHAN ,  Hans MERTENS ,  Eugenio DENTONI LITTA

IPC: H01L29/06 ,  H01L29/786

Abstract: A method for forming a semiconductor device is provided. The method comprises forming a device layer stack comprising an alternating sequence of lower sacrificial layers and channel layers, and a top sacrificial layer over the topmost channel layer, wherein the top sacrificial layer is thicker than each lower sacrificial layer; etching the top sacrificial layer to form a top sacrificial layer portion underneath the sacrificial gate structure; forming a first spacer on end surfaces of the top sacrificial layer portion; etching the channel and lower sacrificial layers while using the first spacer as an etch mask to form channel layer portions and lower sacrificial layer portions; etching the lower sacrificial layer portions to form recesses in the device layer stack, while the first spacer masks the end surfaces of the top sacrificial layer portion; and forming a second spacer in the recesses.

公开(公告)号：US11277633B2

公开(公告)日：2022-03-15

申请号：US16965493

申请日：2019-02-01

Applicant: Vrije Universiteit Brussel ,  IMEC vzw

Inventor： David Blinder ,  Colas Schretter ,  Peter Schelkens

IPC: H04N19/52 ,  G02B27/01 ,  H04N19/172 ,  H04N19/60 ,  H04N19/80 ,  G06F3/01 ,  G06T19/00

Abstract: The invention pertains to a computer-implemented method for compensating motion for a digital holographic video stream, the method comprising: obtaining (1010) a sequence of frames representing consecutive holographic images of a scenery; obtaining (1020) translation and rotation vectors describing a relative motion of at least one object in said scenery between a pair of frames from among said sequence of frames; and applying (1030) an affine canonical transform to a first frame of said pair of frames so as to obtain a predicted frame, said affine canonical transform representing said translation and rotation vectors. The invention also pertains to a computer program product and to an apparatus for compensating motion for a digital holographic video stream.

公开(公告)号：US11276481B2

公开(公告)日：2022-03-15

申请号：US17040036

申请日：2019-03-22

Applicant: IMEC VZW

Inventor： Tim Stakenborg ,  Chang Chen ,  Kris Covens ,  Qing Cai ,  Maarten Fauvart

IPC: G16B50/00 ,  C12Q1/6869 ,  G06N3/12

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for writing data comprising a sequence of bits, the data being written in a form of nucleic acid, by in-vitro enzymatically producing memory nucleic acid from a strand of memory writing substrate nucleic acid, wherein the strand of memory writing substrate nucleic acid comprises a plurality of spacer sections and memory writing sections sandwiched between the spacer sections. Each of the spacer sections comprises one or more nucleobases, and each of the memory writing sections comprises a nucleobase other than the nucleobases of an adjacent spacer section upstream of the memory writing section in a travel direction of an enzyme along the strand of memory writing substrate nucleic acid. The method comprising: repeating of: synthesising, in liquid medium comprising the strand of memory writing substrate nucleic acid contacted with the enzyme, a spacer portion of the memory nucleic acid from a spacer section by the enzyme by contacting with a solution of spacer nucleotides compatible with the nucleobases of the spacer section; halting the synthesising of the spacer portion in a position where the enzyme is reaching the memory writing section resulting from incompatibility between spacer nucleotides and nucleobases of the portion of the memory nucleic acid from the memory writing section; receiving a sub-sequence of the sequence of bits, said sub-sequence comprising at least one bit; selecting a memory nucleotide compatible with the nucleobase of the memory writing section, and comprising a first label or first modification, on a condition that said sub-sequence comprises a predetermined first sequence of bit-values, and selecting a memory nucleotide compatible with the nucleobase of the memory writing section, and comprising a second label or second modification, on a condition that said sub-sequence comprises a predetermined second sequence of bit-values; and subsequent to the halting, synthesising, in the liquid medium comprising the strand of memory writing substrate nucleic acid contacted with the enzyme, a memory portion of the memory nucleic acid from the memory writing section by the enzyme by contacting the enzyme with a solution of the selected memory nucleotide.

公开(公告)号：US20220062850A1

公开(公告)日：2022-03-03

申请号：US17416465

申请日：2019-12-16

Applicant: IMEC VZW ,  Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Inventor： Peter PEUMANS ,  Ahmed TAHER ,  Nicolas VERGAUWE ,  Benjamin JONES

IPC: B01J19/00 ,  B01L3/00

Abstract: The present invention provides a micro-reactor (1) adapted to host chemical reactions having at least one microfluidic layer, said micro-reactor (1) comprising a fluid inlet (2) and a fluid outlet (3); a plurality of micro-reaction chambers (10) arranged in rows (7) and columns (6), each micro-reaction chamber comprising a chamber inlet (10a) and a chamber outlet (10b); a plurality of supply channels (4) for supplying fluid to from said fluid inlet (2) to said micro-reaction chambers (10) and further arranged for draining said micro-reaction chambers (10) to said fluid outlet (3), said supply channels (10) extending in a first direction (D1) along the columns (6) of micro-reaction chambers (10) and arranged such that there is one supply channel (4) between adjacent columns (6). The micro-reaction chambers (10) in the columns (6) are arranged such that the chamber inlets (10a) of a column are in fluid contact with the same supply channel (4) and the chamber outlets (10b) are in fluid contact with the supply channel (4) adjacent to the supply channel (4) arranged in fluidic contact with the chamber inlets (10a). Further, the plurality of supply channels (4) comprises a first end supply channel (4a) arranged for supplying fluid to a first end column (6a) of the micro-reaction chambers (10) and a second end supply channel (4b) arranged for draining fluid from the second, opposite, end column (6b) of said micro-reaction chambers (10); and wherein the micro-reactor (1) further comprises at least one reagent inlet (8) in fluid contact with the first end supply channel 4a and a reagent outlet (9) in fluid contact with the second end supply channel such that reagents introduced to the at least one reagent inlet (8) fill the plurality of micro-reaction chambers (10) in a second direction (D2) along the rows (7) of micro-reaction chambers (10) to the reagent outlet (9).