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).

  • PROCESS FOR FABRICATING A BACKSIDE-ILLUMINATED IMAGING DEVICE AND CORRESPONDING DEVICE
    Publication number: 20120306035
    Abstract: An integrated imaging device includes a silicon layer provided over a dielectric multilayer. The dielectric multilayer includes a top silicon-dioxide layer, an intermediate silicon-nitride layer and a bottom silicon-dioxide layer. Imaging circuitry is formed at a frontside of the silicon layer. An isolating structure surrounds the imaging circuitry and extends from the frontside through the silicon layer and top silicon-dioxide layer into and terminating within the intermediate silicon-nitride layer. A filter for the imaging circuitry is mounted to a backside of the bottom silicon-dioxide layer. The isolating structure is formed by a trench filled with a dielectric material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Publication date: December 6, 2012
    Applicant: STMICROELECTRONICS (CROLLES 2) SAS
    Inventors: Francois Roy, Francois Leverd, Jens Prima
  • METHOD FOR FORMING A BACK-SIDE ILLUMINATED IMAGE SENSOR
    Publication number: 20120261732
    Abstract: A method for forming a back-side illuminated image sensor from a semiconductor substrate, including the steps of: a) thinning the substrate from its rear surface; b) depositing, on the rear surface of the thinned substrate, an amorphous silicon layer of same conductivity type as the substrate but of higher doping level; and c) annealing at a temperature enabling to recrystallized the amorphous silicon to stabilize it.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2012
    Publication date: October 18, 2012
    Applicants: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS, STMicroelectronics S.A.
    Inventors: Michel Marty, François Roy, Jens Prima
  • BACK-SIDE ILLUMINATED IMAGE SENSOR PROVIDED WITH A TRANSPARENT ELECTRODE
    Publication number: 20120261783
    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: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2012
    Publication date: October 18, 2012
    Applicants: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS, STMicroelectronics S.A.
    Inventors: Jens PRIMA, François ROY, Michel MARTY
  • BACK-SIDE ILLUMINATED IMAGE SENSOR WITH A JUNCTION INSULATION
    Publication number: 20120261670
    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: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2012
    Publication date: October 18, 2012
    Applicants: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS, STMicroelectronics S.A.
    Inventors: Michel Marty, François Roy, Jens Prima
  • METHOD FOR FORMING A BACK-SIDE ILLUMINATED IMAGE SENSOR
    Publication number: 20120261784
    Abstract: A method for forming a back-side illuminated image sensor from a semiconductor substrate, including the steps of: a) forming, from the front surface of the substrate, areas of same conductivity type as the substrate but of higher doping level, extending deep under the front surface, these areas being bordered with insulating regions orthogonal to the front surface; b) thinning the substrate from the rear surface to the vicinity of these areas and all the way to the insulating regions; c) partially hollowing out the insulating regions on the rear to surface side; and d) performing a laser surface anneal of the rear surface of the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2012
    Publication date: October 18, 2012
    Applicants: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS, STMicroelectronics S.A.
    Inventors: François Roy, Michel Marty
  • CHARGE TRANSFER PHOTOSITE
    Publication number: 20120211804
    Abstract: A photosite may include, in a semi-conductor substrate, a photodiode pinched in the direction of the depth of the substrate including a charge storage zone, and a charge transfer transistor to transfer the stored charge. The charge storage zone may include a pinching in a first direction passing through the charge transfer transistor defining a constriction zone adjacent to the charge transfer transistor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2012
    Publication date: August 23, 2012
    Applicants: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS, STMicroelectronics SA
    Inventors: Julien MICHELOT, Francois Roy, Frederic Lalanne
  • Dynamic Parsing Rules
    Publication number: 20120197914
    Abstract: Methods, program products, and systems implementing dynamic parsing rules are disclosed. Log data from a variety of log producers can be parsed using parsing rules to generate information about an information system. The parsing rules can include system parsing rules and custom parsing rules. A state machine can be used to detect conflicts between various parsing rules. A central server can distribute the system parsing rules and custom parsing rules to one or more remote servers for distributed processing. In a hierarchical parsing system, a first tier parser can be used to identify types of sources generating the log data. Log data from each type of log source can be sent to a second tier parser that corresponds to the type of log source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 2, 2011
    Publication date: August 2, 2012
    Inventors: Tim Harnett, Achyutram Bhamidipaty, Abinas Tewari, Stephen Manley, Stephen Morgan, Peter Nicklin, Jena-Francois Roy
  • METHOD OF FABRICATING A COMPOSITE ENGINEERED WOOD MATERIAL PIECE
    Publication number: 20120168067
    Abstract: A composite engineered wood material piece and its method of fabrication is described. The wood material piece comprises a top wood layer secured to a substrate layer by a binder. The substrate layer has a plurality of grooves formed therein from a bottom surface thereof to enhance the flexibility of the wood material piece. The grooves are spaced from one another by one or more predetermined spaced intervals and have one or more predetermined depth and width calculated to substantially eliminate the effects of telegraphy of the grooves on a top finished surface of the top wood layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2012
    Publication date: July 5, 2012
    Inventor: Francois Roy
  • MATRIX IMAGING DEVICE HAVING PHOTOSITES WITH GLOBAL SHUTTER CHARGE TRANSFER
    Publication number: 20120161213
    Abstract: An imaging device is formed in a semiconductor substrate. The device includes a matrix array of photosites. Each photosite is formed of a semiconductor region for storing charge, a semiconductor region for reading charge specific to said photosite, and a charge transfer circuit configured so as to permit a transfer of charge between the charge storage region and the charge reading region. Each photosite further includes at least one buried first electrode. At least one part of that buried first electrode bounds at least one part of the charge storage region. The charge transfer circuit for each photosite includes at least one second buried electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2011
    Publication date: June 28, 2012
    Applicant: STMICROELECTRONICS (CROLLES 2) SAS
    Inventors: Francois Roy, Julien Michelot
  • IMAGE SENSOR WITH REDUCED OPTICAL CROSSTALK
    Publication number: 20120153128
    Abstract: A method of fabricating an image sensor includes the steps of: forming at least two photosites in a semiconductor substrate; forming a trench between the photosites; forming a thin liner on at least the sidewalls of the trench; depositing a conductive material having a first refractive index in the trench; and forming a region surrounded by the conductive material and having a second refractive index lower than the first index of refraction within the conductive material in the trench.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2011
    Publication date: June 21, 2012
    Applicants: STMICROELECTRONICS SA, STMICROELECTRONICS (CROLLES 2) SAS
    Inventors: Francois Roy, Flavien Hirigoyen, Julien Michelot
  • Very small image sensor
    Patent number: 8193479
    Abstract: An image sensor formed in a semiconductor stack of a lower region of a first conductivity type and of an upper region of a second conductivity type, including: a photodiode formed of a first portion of the stack; a read area formed of a second portion of the stack; a trench with insulated walls filled with a conductive material, the trench surrounding the photodiode and the read area and being interrupted, all along its height, on a portion facing the photodiode and the read area; and first connection mechanism associated with the conductive material of the trench and capable of being connected to a reference bias voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
    Inventors: François Roy, Benoît Ramadout
  • Photosensitive cell with multiple light guides having differing cross-sectional areas and method of making the same
    Patent number: 8183517
    Abstract: An integrated circuit having a photosensitive cell with an entry face, a photosensitive element and at least two elements forming a light guide and placed between the entry face and the photosensitive element. The second element is located between the first element and the entry face such that the two elements guide the light coming from the entry face onto the photosensitive element and each element forms a light guide. The inner volume has a first surface located on the same side as the photosensitive element, a second surface located on the same side as the entry face, and a lateral surface joining said first surface to said second surface and separating the inner volume from the outer volume. The first surface of the inner volume of the second element has a smaller area than that of the second surface of the inner volume of the first element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics SA
    Inventors: Francois Roy, Thomas Girault
  • IMAGING DEVICE IN PARTICULAR OF THE CMOS TIME DELAY AND INTEGRATION TYPE
    Publication number: 20120097838
    Abstract: An imaging device may be formed in a semiconductor substrate including a matrix array of photosites extending in a first direction and a second direction. The imaging device may include a transfer module configured to transfer charge in the first direction and an extraction module configured to extract charge in the second direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics (Rousset ) SAS
    Inventor: François ROY
  • Recording a Command Stream with a Rich Encoding Format for Capture and Playback of Graphics Content
    Publication number: 20120081378
    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: October 1, 2010
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Inventors: Jean-Francois Roy, Filip Iliescu
  • Imaging Device Having Improved Performance and Method of Controlling It
    Publication number: 20120018618
    Abstract: Imaging device comprising at least one photosite comprising a charge storage semiconductor zone, a charge collection semiconductor zone and transfer means designed to permit charge transfer between the charge storage zone and the charge collection zone, characterized in that the charge storage semiconductor zone comprises a lower semiconductor zone and a conduction channel buried beneath the upper surface of the photosite and connecting said lower semiconductor zone to the charge collection zone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2011
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics (Crolles2) SAS
    Inventor: François Roy
  • Method of Resetting a Photosite, and Corresponding Photosite
    Publication number: 20120018619
    Abstract: A method of resetting a photosite is disclosed. Photogenerated charges accumulated in the photosite are reset by recombining the photogenerated charges with charges of opposite polarity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2011
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Applicants: STMicroelectronics SA, STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS
    Inventors: François Roy, Julien Michelot
  • METHOD OF MAKING CONNECTIONS IN A BACK-LIT CIRCUIT
    Publication number: 20120007243
    Abstract: A method for forming, on a surface of a thinned-down semiconductor substrate, a contact connected to a metal track of an interconnect stack formed on the opposite surface of the thinned-down substrate, including the steps of: forming, on the side of a first surface of a substrate, an insulating region penetrating into the substrate and coated with a conductive region and with an insulating layer crossed by conductive vias, the vias connecting a metal track of the interconnect stack to the conductive region; gluing the external surface of the interconnect stack on a support and thinning down the substrate; etching the external surface of the thinned-down substrate and stopping on the insulating region; etching the insulating region and stopping on the conductive region; and filling the etched opening with a metal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2011
    Publication date: January 12, 2012
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics Crolles 2 SAS
    Inventor: François Roy
  • MONOLITHIC PHOTODETECTOR
    Publication number: 20120007201
    Abstract: A photodetector including a photodiode formed in a semiconductor substrate and a waveguide element formed of a block of a high-index material extending above the photodiode in a thick layer of a dielectric superposed to the substrate, the thick layer being at least as a majority formed of silicon oxide and the block being formed of a polymer of the general formula R1R2R3SiOSiR1R2R3 where R1, R2, and R3 are any carbonaceous or metal substituents and where one of R1, R2, or R3 is a carbonaceous substituent having at least four carbon atoms and/or at least one oxygen atom.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2011
    Publication date: January 12, 2012
    Applicant: STMICROELECTRONICS S.A.
    Inventors: CYRIL FELLOUS, NICOLAS HOTELLIER, CHRISTOPHE AUMONT, FRANÇOIS ROY
  • Method of making connections in a back-lit circuit
    Patent number: 8053353
    Abstract: A method for forming, on a surface of a thinned-down semiconductor substrate, a contact connected to a metal track of an interconnect stack formed on the opposite surface of the thinned-down substrate, including the steps of: forming, on the side of a first surface of a substrate, an insulating region penetrating into the substrate and coated with a conductive region and with an insulating layer crossed by conductive vias, the vias connecting a metal track of the interconnect stack to the conductive region; gluing the external surface of the interconnect stack on a support and thinning down the substrate; etching the external surface of the thinned-down substrate and stopping on the insulating region; etching the insulating region and stopping on the conductive region; and filling the etched opening with a metal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics Crolles 2 SAS
    Inventor: François Roy
  • Monolithic photodetector
    Patent number: 8053801
    Abstract: A photodetector including a photodiode formed in a semiconductor substrate and a waveguide element formed of a block of a high-index material extending above the photodiode in a thick layer of a dielectric superposed to the substrate, the thick layer being at least as a majority formed of silicon oxide and the block being formed of a polymer of the general formula R1R2R3SiOSiR1R2R3 where R1, R2, and R3 are any carbonaceous or metal substituents and where one of R1, R2, or R3 is a carbonaceous substituent having at least four carbon atoms and/or at least one oxygen atom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics SA
    Inventors: Cyril Fellous, Nicolas Hotellier, Christophe Aumont, Francois Roy