公开(公告)号：US06882367B1

公开(公告)日：2005-04-19

申请号：US09515807

申请日：2000-02-29

申请人： Richard B. Merrill ,  Richard M. Turner ,  Milton B. Dong ,  Richard F. Lyon

发明人： Richard B. Merrill ,  Richard M. Turner ,  Milton B. Dong ,  Richard F. Lyon

IPC分类号： H04N5/351 ,  H04N5/3745 ,  H04N5/335 ,  H01L27/00

CPC分类号： H04N5/351 ,  H04N5/2351 ,  H04N5/3745

摘要： A storage pixel sensor disposed on a semiconductor substrate comprises a photodiode having a first terminal coupled to a first potential and a second terminal. A barrier transistor has a first terminal coupled to the second terminal of the photodiode, a second terminal and a control gate coupled to a barrier set voltage. A reset transistor has a first terminal coupled to the second terminal of the barrier transistor, a second terminal coupled to a reset reference potential that reverse biases the photodiode, and a control gate coupled to a source of a RESET signal. A photocharge integration node is coupled to said second terminal of said barrier transistor. The photocharge integration node comprises the control gate of a first source-follower transistor. The first source-follower transistor is coupled to a source of bias current and has an output. A capacitive storage node is coupled to the output of the first source-follower transistor and comprises the control gate of a second source-follower transistor having an output. An exposure transistor is coupled between the output of the first source-follower transistor and a global current-summing node and has a control gate coupled to a saturation level voltage.

摘要翻译： 设置在半导体衬底上的存储像素传感器包括具有耦合到第一电位的第一端子和第二端子的光电二极管。 阻挡晶体管具有耦合到光电二极管的第二端子的第一端子，耦合到栅极设置电压的第二端子和控制栅极。 复位晶体管具有耦合到势垒晶体管的第二端子的第一端子，耦合到反向偏置光电二极管的复位参考电位的第二端子，以及耦合到RESET信号源的控制栅极。 光电荷积分节点耦合到所述阻挡晶体管的所述第二端子。 光电荷积分节点包括第一源极 - 跟随器晶体管的控制栅极。 第一源极跟随器晶体管耦合到偏置电流源并具有输出。 电容存储节点耦合到第一源跟随器晶体管的输出，并且包括具有输出的第二源极 - 跟随器晶体管的控制栅极。 曝光晶体管耦合在第一源极 - 跟随器晶体管的输出端和总计电流求和节点之间，并具有耦合到饱和电平电压的控制栅极。

公开(公告)号：US06410899B1

公开(公告)日：2002-06-25

申请号：US09492103

申请日：2000-02-14

申请人： Richard B. Merrill ,  Richard M. Turner ,  Milton B. Dong ,  Richard F. Lyon

发明人： Richard B. Merrill ,  Richard M. Turner ,  Milton B. Dong ,  Richard F. Lyon

IPC分类号： H04N314

CPC分类号： H04N5/357 ,  H01L27/14609 ,  H04N5/3698 ,  H04N5/374 ,  H04N5/3765

摘要： An integrated active pixel sensor array comprises a plurality of row select lines, each of said row select lines coupled to a source of a row-select signal; a plurality of source-follower drain row lines, each of said source-follower drain row lines coupled to a source of a source-follower drain row signal; a plurality of column output lines; a reset line coupled to a source of a reset signal; a source of reset potential; and a plurality of active pixel sensors, each pixel sensor associated with one row and one column of the array and including a photodiode having a first terminal coupled to a first reference potential and a second terminal, a Reset transistor having a gate coupled to the reset line, a drain coupled to the reset potential to reverse bias the photodiode, and a source coupled to the second terminal of the photodiode, a Source-Follower transistor having a gate coupled to the second terminal of the photodiode, a drain connected to the one of the plurality of source-follower drain row lines with which its active pixel sensor is associated, and a source, a Row-select transistor having a gate coupled to the one of the plurality of row-select lines with which its active pixel sensor is associated, a drain coupled to the source of the Source-follower transistor, and a source coupled to the one of the plurality of column output lines with which its active pixel sensor is associated.

摘要翻译： 集成有源像素传感器阵列包括多个行选择线，每条所述行选择线耦合到行选择信号的源; 多个源极跟随器漏极行线，每个源极跟随器漏极行线耦合到源极跟随器漏极排信号的源极; 多个列输出线; 耦合到复位信号源的复位线; 复位电位的来源; 和多个有源像素传感器，每个像素传感器与阵列的一行和一列相关联，并且包括具有耦合到第一参考电位的第一端子和第二端子的光电二极管，复位晶体管具有耦合到复位的栅极 线路，耦合到复位电位以反向偏置光电二极管的漏极和耦合到光电二极管的第二端子的源极，源极跟随器晶体管，其具有耦合到光电二极管的第二端子的栅极，连接到该光电二极管的漏极 多个源极跟随器漏极行线与其有源像素传感器相关联的源极和源极，行选择晶体管，其栅极耦合到多个行选择线中的一个，其有源像素传感器 耦合到源极 - 跟随器晶体管的源极的漏极，以及耦合到其有源像素传感器与其相关联的多个列输出线中的一个的源极。

公开(公告)号：US06760070B1

公开(公告)日：2004-07-06

申请号：US09527107

申请日：2000-03-16

申请人： Richard B. Merrill ,  Richard M. Turner ,  Milton B. Dong ,  Richard F. Lyon

发明人： Richard B. Merrill ,  Richard M. Turner ,  Milton B. Dong ,  Richard F. Lyon

IPC分类号： H04N5335

CPC分类号： H04N5/351 ,  H04N5/2351 ,  H04N5/3745

摘要： An integrated active pixel sensor array arranged in a plurality of rows and columns comprises a saturation level line coupled to a source of saturation level control voltage, a global current-summing node. A plurality of active pixel sensors is disposed in the array, each pixel sensor associated with one row and one column of the array and including a photodiode having a first terminal coupled to a first potential and a second terminal, a reset transistor having a first terminal coupled to the second terminal of the photodiode, a second terminal coupled to a reset reference potential that reverse biases the photodiode, and a control gate coupled to the reset line, a photocharge integration node coupled to the second terminal of the photodiode, the photocharge integration node comprising the gate of a first source-follower transistor, the first source-follower transistor having a drain, coupled to a first source-follower drain line, and a source, a circuit for generating a bias current at the source of the first source follower transistor, and an exposure transistor having a source coupled to the source of the first source-follower transistor, a drain coupled to the global current-summing node and a control gate coupled to the saturation level line.

摘要翻译： 布置在多个行和列中的集成有源像素传感器阵列包括耦合到饱和电平控制电压源的饱和电平线，全局电流求和节点。 多个有源像素传感器被布置在阵列中，每个像素传感器与阵列的一行和一列相关联，并且包括具有耦合到第一电位的第一端和第二端的光电二极管，复位晶体管具有第一端 耦合到光电二极管的第二端子，耦合到反向偏置光电二极管的复位参考电位的第二端子和耦合到复位线的控制栅极，耦合到光电二极管的第二端子的光电荷积分节点，光电荷积分 包括第一源极 - 跟随器晶体管的栅极的第一源极跟随器晶体管，第一源极跟随器晶体管具有耦合到第一源极跟随器漏极线的漏极和源极，用于在第一源极的源极处产生偏置电流的电路 跟随器晶体管，以及具有耦合到第一源极 - 跟随器晶体管的源极的源极的曝光晶体管，耦合到全局电流求和的漏极 节点和耦合到饱和电平线的控制栅极。

公开(公告)号：US06525304B1

公开(公告)日：2003-02-25

申请号：US09724258

申请日：2000-11-28

申请人： Richard B. Merrill ,  Richard F. Lyon ,  Richard M. Turner ,  Milton B. Dong

发明人： Richard B. Merrill ,  Richard F. Lyon ,  Richard M. Turner ,  Milton B. Dong

IPC分类号： H01L2700

CPC分类号： H04N5/37455

摘要： A digital pixel sensor is formed on a semiconductor substrate and comprises a phototransducer responsive to light for providing an analog output signal that is a function of an incident amount of light. A comparator is configured to compare the analog output signal and a ramp reference signal. A plurality of n DRAM cells are configured to store an at least n-bit digital signal in response to the output of the comparator. An array of digital pixel sensors is also disclosed.

摘要翻译： 数字像素传感器形成在半导体衬底上，并且包括响应于光的光电转换器，用于提供作为入射光量的函数的模拟输出信号。 比较器被配置为比较模拟输出信号和斜坡参考信号。 多个n个DRAM单元被配置为响应于比较器的输出来存储至少n位数字信号。 还公开了数字像素传感器阵列。