Patents by Inventor Masaharu Muramatsu

Masaharu Muramatsu 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).

  • Patent number: 8520111
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device according to one embodiment is a multi-port solid-state imaging device, and includes an imaging region and a plurality of units. The imaging region includes a plurality of pixel columns. The units generate signals based on charges from the imaging region. Each of the units has an output register, a plurality of multiplication registers, and an amplifier. The output register transfers a charge from one or more corresponding pixel columns out of the plurality of pixel columns. The multiplication registers are provided in parallel, and receive the charge from the output register to generate multiplied charges individually. The amplifier generates a signal based on the multiplied charges from the multiplication registers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Shin-ichiro Takagi, Kentaro Maeta, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 8466498
    Abstract: In a solid state imaging device with an electron multiplying function, in a section normal to an electron transfer direction of a multiplication register EM, an insulating layer 2 is thicker at both side portions than in a central region. A pair of overflow drains 1N is formed at a boundary between a central region and both side portions of an N-type semiconductor region 1C. Each overflow drain 1N extends along the electron transfer direction of the multiplication register EM. Overflow gate electrodes G extend from the thin portion to the thick portion of the insulating layer 2. The overflow gate electrodes G are disposed between both ends of each transfer electrode 8 in a longitudinal direction and the insulating layer 2, and they also function as shield electrodes for each electrode 8 (8A and 8B).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2013
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Shin-ichiro Takagi, Kentaro Maeta, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 8446500
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device 1 is provided with a plurality of photoelectric converting portions 3 and first and second shift registers 9, 13. Each photoelectric converting portion 3 has a photosensitive region 15 which generates a charge according to incidence of light and which has a planar shape of a nearly rectangular shape composed of two long sides and two short sides, and a potential gradient forming region 17 which forms a potential gradient increasing along a predetermined direction parallel to the long sides forming the planar shape of the photosensitive region 15, in the photosensitive region, 15. The plurality of photoelectric converting portions 3 are juxtaposed along a direction intersecting with the predetermined direction. The first and second shift registers 9, 13 acquire charges transferred from the respective photoelectric converting portions 3 and transfer them in the direction intersecting with the predetermined direction to output them.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Shinya Otsuka, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 8415604
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device 1 is provided with a plurality of photoelectric converting portions 3, a plurality of first transferring portions 5, a plurality of charge accumulating portions 7, a plurality of second transferring portions 9, and a shift register 11. Each photoelectric converting portion 3 has a photosensitive region 13 which has a planar shape of a nearly rectangular shape composed of two long sides and two short sides, and a potential gradient forming region 15 which forms a potential gradient increasing along a first direction directed from one short side to the other short side forming the planar shape of the photosensitive region 13. Bach first transferring portion 5 is arranged on the side of the other short side forming the planar shape of the corresponding photosensitive region 13 and transfers a charge acquired from the corresponding photosensitive region 13, in the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2013
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Shinya Otsuka, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 8367999
    Abstract: A multi-port solid-state imaging device of one embodiment includes an imaging region and a plurality of units. The imaging region contains a plurality of pixel columns. The units are arrayed in a direction in which the pixel columns are arrayed, and generate signals based on charges from the imaging region. Each unit has an output register, a multiplication register, and an amplifier. The output register transfers a charge from one or more corresponding pixel columns. The multiplication register receives the charge from the output register to generate a multiplied charge. The amplifier generates a signal based on the multiplied charge from the multiplication register. The solid-state imaging device contains a region where the units are provided, and a first dummy region and a second dummy region located on both sides in the above-mentioned direction of the region. In each of the first dummy region and the second dummy region, a multiplication register and an amplifier are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Shin-ichiro Takagi, Kentaro Maeta, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 8345135
    Abstract: A solid state imaging device with an electron multiplying function includes an imaging region VR formed of a plurality of vertical shift registers, a horizontal shift register HR that transfers electrons from the imaging region VR, a multiplication register EM that multiplies the electrons from the horizontal shift register HR, and an electron injecting electrode 11A provided at an end portion of a starting side of the imaging region VR in an electron transfer direction. A specific vertical shift register (channel CH1) into which the electrons are injected by the electron injecting electrode 11A is disposed in a thick part of a semiconductor substrate, and is set in such a way as to be blocked from incident light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Shin-ichiro Takagi, Kentaro Maeta, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 8334918
    Abstract: A solid-state image pickup device 1 includes: a plurality of photoelectric converters 2 which are aligned in a predetermined direction and have a potential made higher toward one side of a direction crossing the predetermined direction; a transferring section 6 which is provided on one side of the photoelectric converters 2 in the direction crossing the predetermined direction and transfers charges generated in the photoelectric converters 2 in the predetermined direction; an unnecessary charge discharging drain 7 which is provided adjacent to the photoelectric converter 2 along the direction crossing the predetermined direction and discharges unnecessary charges generated in the photoelectric converter 2 from the photoelectric converter 2; and an unnecessary charge discharging gate 8 which is provided between the photoelectric converter 2 and the unnecessary charge discharging drain 7 and selectively performs cutting-off and release of the flow of unnecessary charges from the photoelectric converter 2 to the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Shinya Otsuka, Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Publication number: 20120287440
    Abstract: A photodetector of an OCT device is provided with: a silicon substrate comprised of a semiconductor of a first conductivity type, having a first principal surface and a second principal surface opposed to each other, and having a semiconductor region of a second conductivity type formed on the first principal surface side; and charge transfer electrodes provided on the first principal surface and transferring generated charges. In the silicon substrate, an accumulation layer of the first conductivity type having a higher impurity concentration than the silicon substrate is formed on the second principal surface side, and an irregular asperity is formed in a region opposed to at least the semiconductor region, in the second principal surface. The region in which the irregular asperity is formed on the second principal surface of the silicon substrate is optically exposed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2011
    Publication date: November 15, 2012
    Applicant: HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K.
    Inventors: Yasuhito Miyazaki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Hisanori Suzuki, Masaharu Muramatsu, Toshihisa Atsumi
  • Publication number: 20120256287
    Abstract: In a back-illuminated solid-state image pickup device including a semiconductor substrate 4 having a light incident surface at a back surface side and a plurality of charge transfer electrodes 2 disposed at a light detection surface at an opposite side of the semiconductor substrate 4 with respect to the light incident surface, a plurality of openings OP for transmitting light are formed between charge transfer electrodes 2 that are adjacent to each other. Also, a plurality of openings OP for transmitting light may be formed inside each charge transfer electrode 2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2010
    Publication date: October 11, 2012
    Applicant: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Masaharu Muramatsu, Koei Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8243175
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging apparatuses IS1 comprises a package P1, a CCD chip 11, chip resistor arrays 21, etc. In package P1, a mounting portion 2, for mounting CCD chip 11 and chip resistor arrays 21, is disposed so as to protrude into a hollow portion 1. Mounting portion 2 has a first planar portion 3 and second planar portions 4, and first planar portion 3 and second planar portions 4 are formed to be stepped with respect to each other. CCD chip 11 is mounted and fixed on first planar portion 3 via a spacer 13. Chip resistor arrays 21 are mounted and fixed on second planar portions 4. Using the step difference between first planar portion 3 and second planar portions 4, CCD chip 11 and chip resistor arrays 21 are positioned proximally.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hiroya Kobayashi, Hiroshi Akahori, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 8188417
    Abstract: In a photodetecting device 3, a wiring board 12 is provided at the front surface side of a photodetecting element 11 so that a first bonding pad region 15 formed on the front surface of the photodetecting element 11 is exposed, and second bonding pads 17B are formed, of the wiring board 12, in the region on a further inner side than first bonding pads 17A. Thereby, in the photodetecting device 3, a forming space for wire bonding can be located at the inside of the photodetecting element 11, so that the wiring board 12 and the photodetecting element 11 can be made almost equal in size. As a result, in the photodetecting device 3, the area that the photodetecting element 11 occupies relative to the photodetecting device 3 can be sufficiently secured, and minimization of the non-sensitive region in the case of a buttable arrangement of the photodetecting devices 3 on a cold plate 2 can be realized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hiroya Kobayashi, Yasuhito Miyazaki, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Publication number: 20120038016
    Abstract: In a back-illuminated solid-state image pickup device including a semiconductor substrate 4 having a light incident surface at a back surface side and a charge transfer electrode 2 disposed at a light detection surface at an opposite side of the semiconductor substrate 4 with respect to the light incident surface, the light detection surface has an uneven surface. By the light detection surface having the uneven surface, etaloning is suppressed because lights reflected by the uneven surface have scattered phase differences with respect to a phase of incident light and resulting interfering lights offset each other. A high quality image can thus be acquired by the back-illuminated solid-state image pickup device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2010
    Publication date: February 16, 2012
    Applicant: HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Yasuhito Miyazaki, Masaharu Muramatsu, Koei Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8110802
    Abstract: In a photodetecting device 3, positional alignment marks 18A, 18B to serve as positional references of a photodetecting element 11 are formed at the front surface side of the photodetecting element 11. Moreover, a pin base 13 is provided with a threaded fitting pin 32 to be fitted with a cold plate 2, and the threaded fitting pin 32 is accurately positionally aligned with respect to the photodetecting element 11 via a positioning portion 33 positioned with respect to the positional alignment marks 18A, 18B exposed from a slit portion 23 and a cutaway portion 24 of a wiring board 12. Accordingly, in the photodetecting device 3, by only fitting the threaded fitting pin 32 with a recess portion 4 of the cold plate 2, the photodetecting element 11 is accurately positionally aligned with respect to the cold plate 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hiroya Kobayashi, Yasuhito Miyazaki, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Publication number: 20120025089
    Abstract: An X-ray imaging device 1 includes a back-illuminated solid-state image pickup element 10 including an X-ray detection section having a plurality of detection pixels arrayed for detecting incident X-rays formed on one surface 11 side, and an X-ray incident surface on the other surface 12, and a shielding layer 20 provided on the incident surface 12 of the image pickup element 10 and to be used for blocking light rays with wavelengths longer than the wavelength of X-rays as a detection target. The shielding layer 20 includes a first aluminum layer 21 provided directly on the incident surface 12, a second aluminum layer 22 provided on the first aluminum layer 21, and an ultraviolet light shielding layer 25 that is provided between the first and second aluminum layers 21 and 22 and is used for blocking ultraviolet light rays. Accordingly, an X-ray imaging device capable of suppressing the influence of detection of noise light in X-ray detection is realized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Applicant: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Shin-ichiro Takagi, Yasuhito Yoneta, Hisanori Suzuki, Masaharu Muramatsu, Hiroshi Tsunemi, Takeshi Tsuru, Tadayasu Dotani, Takayoshi Kohmura
  • Publication number: 20120007149
    Abstract: In a solid-state imaging device 1, an overflow gate (OFG) 5 has a predetermined electric resistance value, while voltage application units 161 to 165 are electrically connected to the OFG 5 at connecting parts 171 to 175. Therefore, when voltage values V1 to V5 applied to the connecting parts 171 to 175 by the voltage application units 161 to 165 are adjusted, the OFG 5 can yield higher and lower voltage values in its earlier and later stage parts, respectively. As a result, the barrier level (potential) becomes lower and higher in the earlier and later stage parts, so that all the electric charges generated in an earlier stage side region of photoelectric conversion units 2 can be caused to flow out to an overflow drain (OFD) 4, whereby only the electric charges generated in a later stage side region of the photoelectric conversion units 2 can be TDI-transferred.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2010
    Publication date: January 12, 2012
    Applicant: HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Kentaro Maeta, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 8094221
    Abstract: A solid-state image pickup device comprising: a multilayer wiring board 2 having an opening portion 21; a spacer 3 covered with a conductive film 32, and fixed to the multilayer wiring board 2 in a state of making the conductive film 32 face contact with a reference potential electrode exposed into the opening portion 21 of the multilayer wiring board 2; a solid-state image pickup element 4 fixed to the spacer 3 in a state of face contact with the conductive film 32 of the spacer 3, and arranged in the opening portion 21; and an optical element 5 fixed at a position opposing the solid-state image pickup element 4 via the spacer 3, and transmitting light into the opening portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hiroya Kobayashi, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Publication number: 20110298958
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device according to one embodiment is a multi-port solid-state imaging device, and includes an imaging region and a plurality of units. The imaging region includes a plurality of pixel columns. The units generate signals based on charges from the imaging region. Each of the units has an output register, a plurality of multiplication registers, and an amplifier. The output register transfers a charge from one or more corresponding pixel columns out of the plurality of pixel columns. The multiplication registers are provided in parallel, and receive the charge from the output register to generate multiplied charges individually. The amplifier generates a signal based on the multiplied charges from the multiplication registers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 22, 2010
    Publication date: December 8, 2011
    Applicant: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Shin-ichiro Takagi, Kentaro Maeta, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Publication number: 20110273603
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention is a charge multiplying solid-state imaging device, and includes an imaging area 10 that generates a charge according to the amount of incident light, an output register unit 20 that receives the charge from the imaging area 10, and a multiplication register unit 28 that multiplies the charge from the output register 20, and performs feed-forward control of the multiplication factor of the multiplication register unit 28 according to the charge amount from the imaging area 10.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 22, 2010
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Applicant: HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Shin-ichiro Takagi, Kentaro Maeta, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Publication number: 20110272557
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention is a charge multiplying solid-state imaging device, and includes an imaging area 10 that generates a charge according to the amount of incident light, a plurality of output register units 21 to 24 that receive the charge from the imaging area 10, and a plurality of multiplication register units 31 to 34 that multiply charges from the output registers 21 to 24, respectively, and the multiplication register units 31 to 34 are different in the number of multiplication stages from each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 22, 2010
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Applicant: HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K.
    Inventors: Hisanori Suzuki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Shin-ichiro Takagi, Kentaro Maeta, Masaharu Muramatsu
  • Publication number: 20110266644
    Abstract: A semiconductor photodetection element SP has a silicon substrate 21 comprised of a semiconductor of a first conductivity type, having a first principal surface 21a and a second principal surface 21b opposed to each other, and having a semiconductor layer 23 of a second conductivity type formed on the first principal surface 21a side; and charge transfer electrodes 25 provided on the first principal surface 21a and adapted to transfer generated charge. In the silicon substrate 21, an accumulation layer 31 of the first conductivity type having a higher impurity concentration than the silicon substrate 21 is formed on the second principal surface 21b side and an irregular asperity 10 is formed in a region opposed to at least the semiconductor region 23, in the second principal surface 21b. The region where the irregular asperity 10 is formed in the second principal surface 21b of the silicon substrate 21 is optically exposed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2010
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K.
    Inventors: Kazuhisa Yamamura, Akira Sakamoto, Terumasa Nagano, Yasuhito Miyazaki, Yasuhito Yoneta, Hisanori Suzuki, Masaharu Muramatsu