Abstract: The present invention relates to a thiazolidinedione derivative, represented in formula (1) below, pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, and/or pharmaceutically acceptable solvates thereof. Further, the present invention provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising the compound represented in formula (1) below, wherein: X represents a carbon or nitrogen atom, Y represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkoxy group, a halogen, or an aryl group, Z represents an oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur atom, and R1 and R2 each represent a hydrogen atom; or R1 and R2 together form a bond.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a thiazolidinedione derivative, represented in formula (1) below, pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, and/or pharmaceutically acceptable solvates thereof.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a color image sensor for scanning and converting an optical image into electrical signals, includes the steps of: (a) forming a P-type semiconductor layer on a substrate; (b) forming field oxide layers on the P-type semiconductor layer to define regions for red, green and blue photodiodes; (c) providing an ion implantation mask having different mask patterns for the red, the green and the blue photodiodes; (d) implanting impurity ions into the P-type semiconductor layer through the use of said ion implantation mask to form N-type diffusion regions in the P-type semiconductor layer; and (e) applying a thermal process to the resulting structure to form different first, second and third depletion regions corresponding to the red, the green and the blue photodiodes.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a semiconductor device; and, more particularly, to a power-on reset circuit to produce a stable reset signal irrespective of driving speed of a power-on signal which is applied thereto at the time of its initial chip operation. The power-on reset circuit according to the present invention comprises an input unit receiving the power-on signal from an external circuit; a schmitt trigger inverter including an output node, wherein a voltage level at the output node is toggled from a high voltage level signal to a low voltage level signal before an output signal from the input unit increases up to a desired voltage level; and an output unit coupled to the output node for generating the power-on reset signal in response to the voltage level at the output node.

Abstract: The disclosed devices provide a CMOS sensor and, more particularly, an enhanced CMOS sensor improving picture quality by concurrently performing a gamma correction and an analog-to-digital conversion. In an embodiment, there is provided a CMOS image sensor, having: an image capturing unit for converting rays of light incident upon a photo-sensitive area to an analog signal; an analog-to-digital converter for converting the analog image signal to a digital image signal; and a ramp signal generator for producing a ramp signal in order to provide a reference voltage signal to the analog-to-digital converter. The ramp signal generator may include: a) a plurality of capacitors and switches; b) an amplifier coupled to the plurality of capacitors and switches for receiving a gain and reset voltage from external circuitry; and c) capacitance controlling means coupled in parallel to at least one capacitor in the ramp signal generator in order to form the ramp signal for an analog gamma correction.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a color image sensor for scanning and converting an optical image into electrical signals, includes the steps of: (a) forming a P-type semiconductor layer on a substrate; (b) forming field oxide layers on the P-type semiconductor layer to define regions for red, green and blue photodiodes; (c) providing an ion implantation mask having different mask patterns for the red, the green and the blue photodiodes; (d) implanting impurity ions into the P-type semiconductor layer through the use of said ion implantation mask to form N-type diffusion regions in the P-type semiconductor layer; and (e) applying a thermal process to the resulting structure to form different first, second and third depletion regions corresponding to the red, the green and the blue photodiodes.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a color image sensor for scanning and converting an optical image into electrical signals, includes the steps of: (a) forming a P-type semiconductor layer on a substrate; (b) forming field oxide layers on the P-type semiconductor layer to define regions for red, green and blue photodiodes; (c) providing an ion implantation mask having different mask patterns for the red, the green and the blue photodiodes; (d) implanting impurity ions into the P-type semiconductor layer through the use of said ion implantation mask to form N-type diffusion regions in the P-type semiconductor layer; and (e) applying a thermal process to the resulting structure to form different first, second and third depletion regions corresponding to the red, the green and the blue photodiodes.

Abstract: A novel CMOS image unit pixel layout having a photodiode including an optically optimized square image sensing region. The square image sensing layout provides for reduced electrical and color crosstalk and improved modulation transfer function (MTF) between neighboring pixels of an array of pixels.

Abstract: A CMOS image sensor for providing a wider dynamic range even at a low power supply voltage level includes a plurality of unit pixels and a control unit. Each unit pixel includes: a light sensing element for sensing an incident light to generate photoelectric charges to a sensing node; a first switching unit, coupled between a power terminal and the sensing node, for transferring a reset voltage level from a voltage source to the light sensing element; an amplification unit for amplifying a voltage level of the sensing node to output an amplified signal, wherein one terminal of the amplification unit is coupled to a ground terminal; a second switching unit, coupled between an output node and the other terminal of the amplification unit, for outputting the amplified signal as an image data via the output node. The control unit, which is coupled between the power terminal and the output node, controls an output resistance of the output node.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an image sensor; and, more particularly, to a CMOS image sensor employing photodiodes which linearly increase the ability of keeping up photogenerated charges. In accordance with the present invention, a unit pixel of a CMOS image sensor comprises: a photodiode including: a) an N-type semiconductor region and a P-type semiconductor region for a PN junction to which a reverse bias is applied; and b) a highly doped region formed on one of the N-type semiconductor region and the P-type semiconductor region for collecting carriers of electron-hole pairs generated in a depletion region of the PN junction so that a voltage drop of the reverse bias is linear; and an image data processing unit for producing an image data in response to the carriers transferred from the highly doped region.