Patents by Inventor François Roy

François Roy has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • PHOTODIODE INSULATION STRUCTURE
    Publication number: 20160104730
    Abstract: A structure of insulation between photodiodes formed in a doped semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type extending on a doped semiconductor substrate of the second conductivity type, the insulating structure including a trench crossing the semiconductor layer, the trench walls being coated with an insulating layer, the trench being filled with a conductive material and being surrounded with a P-doped area, more heavily doped than the semiconductor layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2015
    Publication date: April 14, 2016
    Inventors: Nayera Ahmed, François Roy
  • PINNED PHOTODIODE WITH A LOW DARK CURRENT
    Publication number: 20160104729
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a pinned photodiode, including: forming a region of photon conversion into electric charges of a first conductivity type on a substrate of the second conductivity type; coating said region with a layer of a heavily-doped insulator of the second conductivity type; and annealing to ensure a dopant diffusion from the heavily-doped insulator layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2015
    Publication date: April 14, 2016
    Inventors: Laurent Favennec, Didier Dutartre, Francois Roy
  • Auto Configuration For Auto-Enrolled Access Controller Systems
    Publication number: 20160094559
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system for a facility supporting an access controller, at least one ingress card reader and an auto-enrollment type controller including a front panel having a single button, a controller board, a terminal block for connecting at least the one ingress card reader to the auto-enrollment type controller board and to connect the auto-enrollment type controller to door locks, and a mounting plate, with the auto-enrollment type controller being configured by a user according to operational requirements of the facility by the user asserting the button for a defined period of time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2014
    Publication date: March 31, 2016
    Applicant: Sensormatic Electronics, LLC
    Inventors: Stephan Frenette, Gabriel Labrecque, Jean-Francois Roy
  • Suspending and resuming a graphics application executing on a target device for debugging
    Patent number: 9298586
    Abstract: Debugging a graphics application executing on a target device. The graphics application may execute CPU instructions to generate graphics commands to graphics hardware for generation of graphics on a display. A breakpoint for the graphics application may be detected at a first time. In response to detecting the breakpoint, one or more graphics commands which were executed by the graphics hardware proximate to the first time may be displayed. Additionally, source code corresponding to CPU instructions which generated the one or more graphics commands may be displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew M. Sowerby, Jean-Francois Roy, Filip Iliescu
  • Composite engineered wood material piece composed of an HDF mid-layer and an OSB bottom layer
    Publication number: 20160060881
    Abstract: A composite engineered wood material piece, such as a floor board or wood material sheet, is comprised of a thin top quality wood material layer bonded onto a high density fiber board (HDF) material which is itself bonded onto a thick bottom substrate oriented strand board (OSB) material layer. The OSB material layer has its particle orientation in the top surface disposed parallel to the grain orientation in the top quality wood material layer. The HDF layer resists to the stress exhibited in the top layer and acts has a transition layer to secure the top layer to the bottom layer. It also strengthens the composite floor board or wood material sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 2, 2014
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Inventor: François Roy
  • Recording a Command Stream with a Rich Encoding Format for Capture and Playback of Graphics Content
    Publication number: 20160054868
    Abstract: Analyzing an application executing on a target device. An application may be executed on a target device. Low cost measurement may be gathered regarding the application executing on the target device. In response to a trigger, high cost measurement data may be gathered regarding the application executing on the target device. The high cost measurement data may include graphics commands provided by the application. The graphics commands and related information may be stored and provided to a host. The host may modify the graphics commands to perform experiments to determine performance issues of the application executing on the target device. The host may determine whether the performance is limited by the CPU or the GPU and may determine specific operations that are causing performance issues. The host may provide suggestions for overcoming the performance issues.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2015
    Publication date: February 25, 2016
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Jean-Francois Roy, Filip Iliescu
  • Image sensor
    Patent number: 9236407
    Abstract: An image sensor arranged inside and on top of a semiconductor substrate, having a plurality of pixels, each including: a photosensitive area, a read area, and a storage area extending between the photosensitive area and the read area; at least one first insulated vertical electrode extending in the substrate between the photosensitive area and the storage area; and at least one second insulated vertical electrode extending in the substrate between the storage area and the read area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics SA, Commissariat A L'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
    Inventors: François Roy, Yvon Cazaux
  • INSULATING TRENCH FORMING METHOD
    Publication number: 20150295030
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing an insulating trench including the successive steps of: a) forming, on a semiconductor substrate, a first masking structure including a layer of a first selectively-etchable material and etching a trench into the substrate; b) forming an insulating coating on the trench walls and filling the trench with doped polysilicon; c) forming a silicon oxide plug penetrating into the trench substantially all the way to the upper surface of the substrate and protruding above the upper surface of the substrate; and d) removing the layer of the first material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2015
    Publication date: October 15, 2015
    Inventors: Nayera Ahmed, François Roy
  • PHOTODIODE INSULATION STRUCTURE
    Publication number: 20150279878
    Abstract: A structure of insulation between photodiodes formed in a doped semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type extending on a doped semiconductor substrate of the second conductivity type, the insulating structure including a trench crossing the semiconductor layer, the trench walls being coated with an insulating layer, the trench being filled with a conductive material and being surrounded with a P-doped area, more heavily doped than the semiconductor layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2015
    Publication date: October 1, 2015
    Inventors: Nayera Ahmed, Francois Roy
  • Recording a command stream with a rich encoding format for capture and playback of graphics content
    Patent number: 9117286
    Abstract: Analyzing an application executing on a target device. An application may be executed on a target device. Low cost measurement may be gathered regarding the application executing on the target device. In response to a trigger, high cost measurement data may be gathered regarding the application executing on the target device. The high cost measurement data may include graphics commands provided by the application. The graphics commands and related information may be stored and provided to a host. The host may modify the graphics commands to perform experiments to determine performance issues of the application executing on the target device. The host may determine whether the performance is limited by the CPU or the GPU and may determine specific operations that are causing performance issues. The host may provide suggestions for overcoming the performance issues.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jean-Francois Roy, Filip Iliescu
  • Image sensor with a curved surface
    Patent number: 9099604
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an image sensor, including the successive steps of: forming columns of a semiconductor material; forming one or several pixels at a first end of each of the columns; and deforming the structure so that the second ends of each of the columns come closer to each other or draw away from each other to form a surface in the shape of a polyhedral cap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS, STMicroelectronics S.A.
    Inventors: François Roy, Lucile Broussous, Julien Michelot, Jean-Pierre Oddou
  • Photosite with pinned photodiode
    Patent number: 9099366
    Abstract: A photosite is formed in a semiconductor substrate and includes a photodiode confined in a direction orthogonal to the surface of the substrate. The photodiode includes a semiconductor zone for storing charge that is formed in an upper semiconductor region having a first conductivity type and includes a main well of a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type and laterally pinned in a first direction parallel to the surface of the substrate. The photodiode further includes an additional semiconductor zone including an additional well having the second conductivity type that is buried under and makes contact with the main well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics SA, STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
    Inventors: Francois Roy, Julien Michelot
  • Image sensor of curved surface
    Patent number: 9099603
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an image sensor, including the steps of: forming elementary structures of an image sensor on the first surface of a semiconductor substrate; installing a layer on the first surface; defining trenches in the layer, the trenches forming a pattern in the layer; and installing, on a hollow curved substrate, the obtained device on the free surface side of the layer, the pattern being selected according to the shape of the support surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
    Inventors: François Roy, Vincent Fiori
  • Method for forming an insulating trench in a semiconductor substrate and structure, especially CMOS image sensor, obtained by said method
    Patent number: 9087872
    Abstract: A structure comprising at least one DTI-type insulating trench in a substrate, the trench being at the periphery of at least one active area of the substrate forming a pixel, the insulating trench including a cavity filled with a dielectric material, the internal walls of the cavity being covered with a layer made of a boron-doped material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
    Inventors: Laurent Favennec, Arnaud Tournier, François Roy
  • FORMING OF A HEAVILY-DOPED SILICON LAYER ON A MORE LIGHTLY-DOPED SILICON SUBSTRATE
    Publication number: 20150137133
    Abstract: A method of forming a heavily-doped silicon layer on a more lightly-doped silicon substrate including the steps of depositing a heavily-doped amorphous silicon layer; depositing a silicon nitride layer; and heating the amorphous silicon layer to a temperature higher than or equal to the melting temperature of silicon.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 11, 2014
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Applicants: STMICROELECTRONICS SA, STMICROELECTRONICS (CROLLES 2) SAS
    Inventors: Michel Marty, Francois Roy
  • Compact image sensor arrangement with read circuitry over pixel zones
    Patent number: 9024240
    Abstract: An image sensor having a number of pixel zones delimited by isolation trenches, each pixel zone including a photodiode; a transfer gate associated with each of the pixel zones and arranged to transfer charge from the photodiode to a sensing node; and a read circuit for reading a voltage at one of the sensing nodes, the read circuitry including a number of transistors of which at least one is positioned at least partially over a pixel zone of the pixel zones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics S.A., STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
    Inventors: François Roy, Frédéric Barbier
  • Fiber optic radiochromic dosimeter probe and method to make the same
    Patent number: 9000401
    Abstract: A fiber optic dosimeter probe for sensing radiation dose including an optical fiber having a free end and a sensitive end, a window having a sensitive side and a rear side; a radiation sensitive layer between the sensitive end of the optical fiber and a sensitive side of the window, the radiation sensitive layer being made of a material having an optical property that changes with absorbed radiation dose, an amount of the material corresponding to a predetermined sensitivity to radiation; wherein the window and the optical fiber have a near water equivalent interaction with radiation and are MR compatible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignees: Institut National D'Optique, University Health Network
    Inventors: Alexandra Rink, David Jaffray, Ozzy Mermut, Serge Caron, André Croteau, François Roy-Moisan
  • Hardened photodiode image sensor
    Patent number: 8994138
    Abstract: An image sensor including a pixel array, each pixel including, in a substrate of a doped semiconductor material of a first conductivity type, a first doped region of a second conductivity type at the surface of the substrate; an insulating trench surrounding the first region; a second doped region of the first conductivity type, more heavily doped than the substrate, at the surface of the substrate and surrounding the trench; a third doped region of the second conductivity type, forming with the substrate a photodiode junction, extending in depth into the substrate under the first and second regions and being connected to the first region; and a fourth region, more lightly doped than the second and third regions, interposed between the second and third regions and in contact with the first region and/or with the third region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics S.A., STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
    Inventors: François Roy, Sebastien Place
  • Back-side illuminated image sensor provided with a transparent electrode
    Patent number: 8981516
    Abstract: A back-side illuminated image sensor formed from a thinned semiconductor substrate, wherein: a transparent conductive electrode, insulated from the substrate by an insulating layer, extends over the entire rear surface of the substrate; and conductive regions, insulated from the substrate by an insulating coating, extend perpendicularly from the front surface of the substrate to the electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignees: STMicroeletronics S.A., STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
    Inventors: Jens Prima, François Roy, Michel Marty
  • Back-side illuminated image sensor with a junction insulation
    Patent number: 8963273
    Abstract: A method for forming a back-side illuminated image sensor, including the steps of: a) forming, from the front surface, doped polysilicon regions, of a conductivity type opposite to that of the substrate, extending in depth orthogonally to the front surface and emerging into the first layer; b) thinning the substrate from its rear surface to reach the polysilicon regions, while keeping a strip of the first layer; c) depositing, on the rear surface of the thinned substrate, a doped amorphous silicon layer, of a conductivity type opposite to that of the substrate; and d) annealing at a temperature capable of transforming the amorphous silicon layer into a crystallized layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics S.A., STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
    Inventors: Michel Marty, François Roy, Jens Prima