Patents by Inventor Seiichi Tamura

Seiichi Tamura 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: 10700112
    Abstract: In a solid-state image pickup device including a pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion portion, a carrier holding portion, and a plurality of transistors, the solid-state image pickup device further includes a first insulating film disposed over the photoelectric conversion portion, the carrier holding portion, and the plurality of transistors, a conductor disposed in an opening of the first insulating film and positioned to be connected to a source or a drain of one or more of the plurality of transistors, and a light shielding film disposed in an opening or a recess of the first insulating film and positioned above the carrier holding portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Aiko Kato, Kouhei Hashimoto, Seiichi Tamura
  • Publication number: 20190035840
    Abstract: In a solid-state image pickup device including a pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion portion, a carrier holding portion, and a plurality of transistors, the solid-state image pickup device further includes a first insulating film disposed over the photoelectric conversion portion, the carrier holding portion, and the plurality of transistors, a conductor disposed in an opening of the first insulating film and positioned to be connected to a source or a drain of one or more of the plurality of transistors, and a light shielding film disposed in an opening or a recess of the first insulating film and positioned above the carrier holding portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2018
    Publication date: January 31, 2019
    Inventors: Aiko Kato, Kouhei Hashimoto, Seiichi Tamura
  • Patent number: 10115755
    Abstract: In a solid-state image pickup device including a pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion portion, a carrier holding portion, and a plurality of transistors, the solid-state image pickup device further includes a first insulating film disposed over the photoelectric conversion portion, the carrier holding portion, and the plurality of transistors, a conductor disposed in an opening of the first insulating film and positioned to be connected to a source or a drain of one or more of the plurality of transistors, and a light shielding film disposed in an opening or a recess of the first insulating film and positioned above the carrier holding portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Aiko Kato, Kouhei Hashimoto, Seiichi Tamura
  • Patent number: 9608033
    Abstract: A solid-state image sensor includes a pixel area and a peripheral circuit area. The pixel area includes a first MOS, and the peripheral circuit area includes a second MOS. A method includes forming a gate of the first MOS and a gate of the second MOS, forming a first insulating film to cover the gates of the first and second MOSs, etching the first insulating film in the peripheral circuit area in a state that the pixel area is masked to form a side spacer on a side face of the gate of the second MOS, etching the first insulating film in the pixel area in a state that the peripheral circuit area is masked, and forming the second insulating film to cover the gates of the first and second MOSs and the side spacers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masatsugu Itahashi, Seiichi Tamura, Nobuaki Kakinuma, Mineo Shimotsusa, Masato Fujita, Yusuke Onuki
  • Patent number: 9570506
    Abstract: A photoelectric conversion device includes a pixel circuit section including: a first semiconductor region containing a first conductivity type impurity; a second semiconductor region formed in the first semiconductor region by using the first conductivity type impurity; a third semiconductor region formed in the second semiconductor region by using a second conductivity type impurity; and a contact plug formed on the third semiconductor region. A net concentration of the first conductivity type impurity is higher in the second semiconductor region than in the first and third semiconductor regions. In the second and third semiconductor regions, a distance between the contact plug and a position where the concentration of the second conductivity type impurity is maximum is equal to or less than a distance between the contact plug and a position where the concentration of the first conductivity type impurity is maximum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuyuki Endo, Katsunori Hirota, Takumi Ogino, Masashi Kusukawa, Seiichi Tamura
  • Publication number: 20170005127
    Abstract: In a solid-state image pickup device including a pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion portion, a carrier holding portion, and a plurality of transistors, the solid-state image pickup device further includes a first insulating film disposed over the photoelectric conversion portion, the carrier holding portion, and the plurality of transistors, a conductor disposed in an opening of the first insulating film and positioned to be connected to a source or a drain of one or more of the plurality of transistors, and a light shielding film disposed in an opening or a recess of the first insulating film and positioned above the carrier holding portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2016
    Publication date: January 5, 2017
    Inventors: Aiko Kato, Kouhei Hashimoto, Seiichi Tamura
  • Patent number: 9466627
    Abstract: In a solid-state image pickup device including a pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion portion, a carrier holding portion, and a plurality of transistors, the solid-state image pickup device further includes a first insulating film disposed over the photoelectric conversion portion, the carrier holding portion, and the plurality of transistors, a conductor disposed in an opening of the first insulating film and positioned to be connected to a source or a drain of one or more of the plurality of transistors, and a light shielding film disposed in an opening or a recess of the first insulating film and positioned above the carrier holding portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Aiko Kato, Kouhei Hashimoto, Seiichi Tamura
  • Publication number: 20160086992
    Abstract: In a solid-state image pickup device including a pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion portion, a carrier holding portion, and a plurality of transistors, the solid-state image pickup device further includes a first insulating film disposed over the photoelectric conversion portion, the carrier holding portion, and the plurality of transistors, a conductor disposed in an opening of the first insulating film and positioned to be connected to a source or a drain of one or more of the plurality of transistors, and a light shielding film disposed in an opening or a recess of the first insulating film and positioned above the carrier holding portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2015
    Publication date: March 24, 2016
    Inventors: Aiko Kato, Kouhei Hashimoto, Seiichi Tamura
  • Patent number: 9236410
    Abstract: In a solid-state image pickup device including a pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion portion, a carrier holding portion, and a plurality of transistors, the solid-state image pickup device further includes a first insulating film disposed over the photoelectric conversion portion, the carrier holding portion, and the plurality of transistors, a conductor disposed in an opening of the first insulating film and positioned to be connected to a source or a drain of one or more of the plurality of transistors, and a light shielding film disposed in an opening or a recess of the first insulating film and positioned above the carrier holding portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Aiko Kato, Kouhei Hashimoto, Seiichi Tamura
  • Publication number: 20150333098
    Abstract: A photoelectric conversion device includes a pixel circuit section including: a first semiconductor region containing a first conductivity type impurity; a second semiconductor region formed in the first semiconductor region by using the first conductivity type impurity; a third semiconductor region formed in the second semiconductor region by using a second conductivity type impurity; and a contact plug formed on the third semiconductor region. A net concentration of the first conductivity type impurity is higher in the second semiconductor region than in the first and third semiconductor regions. In the second and third semiconductor regions, a distance between the contact plug and a position where the concentration of the second conductivity type impurity is maximum is equal to or less than a distance between the contact plug and a position where the concentration of the first conductivity type impurity is maximum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2015
    Publication date: November 19, 2015
    Inventors: Nobuyuki Endo, Katsunori Hirota, Takumi Ogino, Masashi Kusukawa, Seiichi Tamura
  • Publication number: 20150325620
    Abstract: A solid-state image sensor includes a pixel area and a peripheral circuit area. The pixel area includes a first MOS, and the peripheral circuit area includes a second MOS. A method includes forming a gate of the first MOS and a gate of the second MOS, forming a first insulating film to cover the gates of the first and second MOSs, etching the first insulating film in the peripheral circuit area in a state that the pixel area is masked to form a side spacer on a side face of the gate of the second MOS, etching the first insulating film in the pixel area in a state that the peripheral circuit area is masked, and forming the second insulating film to cover the gates of the first and second MOSs and the side spacers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2015
    Publication date: November 12, 2015
    Inventors: Masatsugu Itahashi, Seiichi Tamura, Nobuaki Kakinuma, Mineo Shimotsusa, Masato Fujita, Yusuke Onuki
  • Patent number: 8754969
    Abstract: In a photoelectric conversion apparatus including a plurality of focus detection pixels, each focus detection pixel including a photoelectric conversion element, the photoelectric conversion element having a light receiving surface, and a plurality of wiring layers to read a signal supplied by the photoelectric conversion element, the photoelectric conversion apparatus further includes a light shielding film covering a part of the photoelectric conversion element and having the lower surface positioned closer to a plane, which includes a light receiving surface of the photoelectric conversion element and which is parallel to the light receiving surface, than a lower surface of the lowermost one of the plurality of wiring layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Seiichi Tamura, Mayu Ishikawa, Aiko Kato, Masatsuga Itahashi, Kouhei Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 8546902
    Abstract: The present invention, in a photoelectric conversion device in which a pixel including a photoelectric conversion device for converting a light into a signal charge and a peripheral circuit including a circuit for processing the signal charge outside a pixel region in which the pixel are disposed on the same substrate, comprising: a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type for forming the photoelectric region, the first semiconductor region being formed in a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type; and a third semiconductor region of the first conductivity type and a fourth semiconductor region of the second conductivity type for forming the peripheral circuit, the third and fourth semiconductor regions being formed in the second semiconductor region; wherein in that the impurity concentration of the first semiconductor region is higher than the impurity concentration of the third semiconductor region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Seiichi Tamura, Hiroshi Yuzurihara, Takeshi Ichikawa, Ryuichi Mishima
  • Publication number: 20120300102
    Abstract: In a photoelectric conversion apparatus including a plurality of focus detection pixels, each focus detection pixel including a photoelectric conversion element, the photoelectric conversion element having a light receiving surface, and a plurality of wiring layers to read a signal supplied by the photoelectric conversion element, the photoelectric conversion apparatus further includes a light shielding film covering a part of the photoelectric conversion element and having the lower surface positioned closer to a plane, which includes a light receiving surface of the photoelectric conversion element and which is parallel to the light receiving surface, than a lower surface of the lowermost one of the plurality of wiring layers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2012
    Publication date: November 29, 2012
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Seiichi Tamura, Mayu Ishikawa, Aiko Kato, Masatsugu Itahashi, Kouhei Hashimoto
  • Publication number: 20120299066
    Abstract: In a solid-state image pickup device including a pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion portion, a carrier holding portion, and a plurality of transistors, the solid-state image pickup device further includes a first insulating film disposed over the photoelectric conversion portion, the carrier holding portion, and the plurality of transistors, a conductor disposed in an opening of the first insulating film and positioned to be connected to a source or a drain of one or more of the plurality of transistors, and a light shielding film disposed in an opening or a recess of the first insulating film and positioned above the carrier holding portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2012
    Publication date: November 29, 2012
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Aiko Kato, Kouhei Hashimoto, Seiichi Tamura
  • Patent number: 8309997
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a photoelectric conversion device, wherein improvement of charge transfer properties when charge is output from a charge storage region and suppression of dark current generation during charge storage are compatible with each other. This object is achieved by forming a depletion voltage of a charge storage region in the range from zero to one half of a power source voltage (V), forming a gate voltage of a transfer MOS transistor during a charge transfer period in the range from one half of the power source voltage to the power source voltage (V) and forming a gate voltage of the transfer MOS transistor during a charge storage period in the range from minus one half of the power source voltage to zero (V).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yuzurihara, Seiichi Tamura, Ryuichi Mishima
  • Patent number: 8184189
    Abstract: The image sensing device includes a semiconductor substrate; a light shielding layer that is arranged above the semiconductor substrate and shields an optical black region and a peripheral region from light; a first capacitance element that is arranged between the light shielding layer in the peripheral region and the semiconductor substrate and is used to temporarily hold signals output from effective pixels or optical black pixels; and a second capacitance element that is arranged between the light shielding layer in the optical black region and the semiconductor substrate so as to shield the photoelectric conversion units of the optical black pixels from light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Seiichi Tamura
  • Publication number: 20110254065
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a photoelectric conversion device, wherein improvement of charge transfer properties when charge is output from a charge storage region and suppression of dark current generation during charge storage are compatible with each other. This object is achieved by forming a depletion voltage of a charge storage region in the range from zero to one half of a power source voltage (V), forming a gate voltage of a transfer MOS transistor during a charge transfer period in the range from one half of the power source voltage to the power source voltage (V) and forming a gate voltage of the transfer MOS transistor during a charge storage period in the range from minus one half of the power source voltage to zero (V).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2011
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yuzurihara, Seiichi Tamura, Ryuichi Mishima
  • Patent number: 7994552
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a photoelectric conversion device, wherein improvement of charge transfer properties when charge is output from a charge storage region and suppression of dark current generation during charge storage are compatible with each other. This object is achieved by forming a depletion voltage of a charge storage region in the range from zero to one half of a power source voltage (V), forming a gate voltage of a transfer MOS transistor during a charge transfer period in the range from one half of the power source voltage to the power source voltage (V) and forming a gate voltage of the transfer MOS transistor during a charge storage period in the range from minus one half of the power source voltage to zero (V).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yuzurihara, Seiichi Tamura, Ryuichi Mishima
  • Patent number: 7977760
    Abstract: A manufacturing method is provided for a photoelectric conversion device in which no plane channeling is produced. The photoelectric conversion device includes a silicon substrate and a photoelectric conversion element on one principal plane of the silicon substrate that forms an off-angle ? with at least two planes perpendicular to a reference (1 0 0) plane within a range of 3.5°???4.5°, and an ion injecting direction for forming a semiconductor region constituting the photoelectric conversion element forms an angle ? to a direction perpendicular to the principal plane within a range of 0°<??45°, and further a direction of a projection of the ion injecting direction to the principal plane forms each angle ? with the two plane direction within a range of 0°<?<90°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Seiichi Tamura, Hiroshi Yuzurihara, Shigeru Nishimura, Ryuichi Mishima, Yasushi Nakata