PMOS PIXEL STRUCTURE WITH LOW CROSS TALK FOR ACTIVE PIXEL IMAGE SENSORS
An image sensor with an image area having a plurality of pixels each having a photodetector of a first conductivity type, the image sensor includes a substrate of the first conductivity type; a first layer of the second conductivity type between the substrate and the photodetectors, spanning the image area and biased at predetermined potential with respect to the substrate for driving excess carriers into the substrate to reduce cross talk; one or more adjacent active electronic components disposed in the first layer within each pixel; and electronic circuitry disposed in the substrate outside of the image area.
This is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/455,985 filed Jun. 20, 2006. Reference is made to and priority claimed from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/737,298, filed Nov. 16, 2005, entitled PMOS PIXEL STRUCTURE WITH LOW CROSS TALK FOR ACTIVE-PIXEL IMAGE SENSORS.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates generally to the field of image sensors, and in particular to active pixel image sensors having an n-type pinning layer and a p-type collection region in an n-type well for reducing cross talk.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONCurrent day active pixel image sensors are typically built on either p- or n-type silicon substrates. Active pixel sensors refer to sensors having an active circuit element such as an amplifier in, or associated with, each pixel. CMOS refers to “complimentary metal oxide silicon” transistors in which two transistors composed of opposite dopants (one of p-type and one of n-type) are wired together in a complimentary fashion. Active pixel sensors also typically use CMOS transistors, and as such, are used interchangeably.
The CMOS sensors built on p-type substrates typically contain a higher level of circuit integration on chip due to the fact that the process is derived from standard CMOS, which is already fully developed and contains all the necessary devices and circuit libraries to support this high level of integration. Unfortunately, these sensors suffer from high levels of pixel-to-pixel cross talk that results from the lateral diffusion of minority carriers within the p-type substrates on which they are built. On the other hand, CMOS image sensors built using processes derived from typical interline CCD image sensors, (wherein the focal plane is built in a p-well on an n-type substrate), have much lower cross talk due to the elimination of lateral carrier diffusion as a result of the vertical-overflow drain (VOD) structure. For these devices, color cross talk is primarily optical as limited by the transmission of the overlying CFAs.
Although there have been several recent proposals to reduce the electrical cross talk within the silicon substrates for CMOS sensors built on p-type substrates, (U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/721,168 and 60/721,175, both filed on Sep. 28, 2005), the cross talk can not be reduced low enough using these techniques for certain applications. And although a CMOS process could be developed on n-type substrates, it would require the complete re-engineering of all of the support circuitry and devices. It would also require that the AC ground plane, in this case the substrate, be biased at the VDD supply voltage, which is not desirable from a noise point of view. N-type substrates are also more difficult to get than p-type substrates, which can result in a higher level of dark current defects.
Therefore, there exists a need within the art to provide a CMOS image sensor with reduced cross talk while maintaining all of the current advantages and level of development of existing mainstream CMOS processes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above. Briefly summarized, according to one aspect of the present invention, the present invention resides in an image sensor with an image area having a plurality of pixels each having a photodetector of a first conductivity type, the image sensor comprising a substrate of the first conductivity type; a first layer of the second conductivity type between the substrate and the photodetectors, spanning the image area and biased at predetermined potential with respect to the substrate for driving excess carriers into the substrate to reduce cross talk; one or more adjacent active electronic components disposed in the first layer within each pixel; and electronic circuitry disposed in the substrate outside of the image area.
These and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims, and by reference to the accompanying drawings.
Advantageous Effect of the InventionThe present invention has the advantage of reducing cross talk and the bulk-diffusion component of dark current while retaining all the advantages of using mainstream standard CMOS integrated on a p-type substrate.
Historically, charge-coupled device (CCD)-based image sensors have primarily used electrons as the signal-charge carrier to take advantage of their higher mobility to maintain good transfer efficiency at high data rates. To reduce color cross talk and smear, and to provide blooming protection, CCD imagers are also typically built in a well, or vertical-overflow drain (VOD) structure (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,182). Therefore, building a VOD structure along with the requirement for an n-channel requires that a p-well be formed in an n-type substrate.
CMOS-based image sensors have since become more readily available. Current day CMOS image sensors are typically built on either p- or n-type silicon substrates. Those built on p-type substrates using mainstream CMOS processing can contain high levels of circuit integration, but suffer from high levels of color cross talk. Those built using a typical CCD-like process on n-type substrates (S. Inoue et al., “A 3.25 M-pixel APS-C size CMOS Image Sensor,” in Eizojoho Media Gakkai Gijutsu Hokoku (Technology Report, The Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers) Eijogakugiho, vol. 25, no. 28, pp. 37-41, March 2001. ISSN 1342-6893.) have low color cross talk, but have other shortcomings as previously described above.
Unlike CCD image sensors, CMOS image sensors have only one transfer, i.e., from the photodiode to the floating diffusion. Hence, a CMOS image sensor does not require as high a charge carrier mobility. As such, the lower mobility of holes would not be a deficiency for a CMOS image sensor. It is therefore one object of the present invention to disclose a CMOS image sensor employing a PMOS (p-channel) pixel structure using holes as the signal-charge carrier. This PMOS structure of the present invention allows the pixel to be built in an n-well on p-type epi to reduce pixel-to-pixel cross talk. However, unlike a typical CCD-based image sensor, this well is only used underneath (or spanning) the imaging section of the sensor. All of the digital and analog CMOS support circuitry integrated on the chip is formed in the p-type epi (see
The top view of a typical prior art CMOS image sensor pixel is shown in
A typical prior art CMOS image sensor pixel contains a pinned photodiode with a p+ type pinning layer and an n-type storage region built on p−/p++ epitaxial silicon wafers as illustrated by way of example in
Cross talk can be quantified by defining it as the ratio of the signal in the non-illuminated to the illuminated pixel(s), and can be expressed as either a fraction or percentage. Therefore, cross talk represents the relative amount of signal that does not get collected by the pixel(s) under which it was generated. The dependence of cross-talk on depletion depth for the example prior-art pixel is illustrated in
A cross section of the PMOS pixel architecture of the present invention is shown in
Electrical cross talk for the pixel structure of the present invention with a pinned photodiode built in an n-well on a p-type substrate is greatly reduced as shown in
Referring to
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention shown incorporates a pinned photodiode consisting of an n+ pinning (top surface) layer and a p-type buried collecting region within an n-well on a p-type epi substrate, it will be understood the those skilled in the art that other structures can be used without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, a simple unpinned p-type diode formed in an n-type well could be used, if desired. Also, although a simple non-shared pixel architecture is shown, a shared architecture, (such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,655 for example), could also be used without departing from the scope of the invention.
The invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment. However, it will be appreciated that variations and modifications can be effected by a person of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention.
PARTS LIST
- 10 pinned photodiode
- 20 n+ pinning layer
- 30 p-type buried storage region
- 40 n-type well
- 50 p−/p++ epitaxial substrate
- 60 n+ type isolation implant
- 70 image area
- 75 image sensor
- 80 analog or digital circuits
- 90 digital logic
- 100 row decoder
- 110 column decoder
- 120 digital camera
Claims
1. An image sensor including an image area having a plurality of pixels with at least one pixel having a photodetector of a p conductivity type which use holes as charge carriers, the image sensor comprising:
- a substrate of the p conductivity type;
- a first layer of n conductivity type between the substrate and the at least one p-type photodetector, wherein the first layer spans the entire image area having the plurality of pixels; and
- a contact electrically connected to the first layer for biasing the first later at a predetermined potential with respect to the substrate for driving excess carriers into the substrate to reduce cross talk.
2. The image sensor as in claim 1, further comprising:
- one or more adjacent active P-channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor (PMOS) electronic components disposed in the first layer with the at least one pixel; and
- CMOS electronic support circuitry disposed in the substrate outside of the image area and electrically connected to the image area.
3. The image sensor as in claim 1, further comprising an isolation region disposed adjacent to a portion of at least one photodetector.
4. The image sensor as in claim 3, further comprising an isolation implant of n conductivity type surrounding at least a portion of at least one photodetector.
5. The image sensor as in claim 3, wherein the isolation implant of n conductivity type comprises an arsenic implant region.
6. The image sensor as in claim 1, further comprising a pinning layer of the n conductivity type.
7. The image sensor as in claim 6, wherein the pinning layer of the n conductivity type comprises an arsenic implant region.
8. The image sensor as in claim 1, wherein the photodetector of the p conductivity type comprises a boron implant region.
9. The image sensor as in claim 1, further comprising a p-epitaxial layer disposed between the substrate and the first layer.
10. The image sensor as in claim 3, further comprising a pinning layer of the n conductivity type connected to the isolation region.
11. The image sensor as in claim 2, wherein the predetermined potential is set to a supply voltage connected to at least one PMOS electronic component.
12. An image capture device, comprising:
- an image sensor including an image area having a plurality of pixels with at least one pixel having a photodetector of a p conductivity type which use holes as charge carriers, the image sensor comprising:
- a substrate of the p conductivity type;
- a first layer of n conductivity type between the substrate and the at least one p-type photodetector, wherein the first layer spans the entire image area having the plurality of pixels; and
- a contact electrically connected to the first layer for biasing the first later at a predetermined potential with respect to the substrate for driving excess carriers into the substrate to reduce cross talk.
13. A method for producing an image sensor including an imaging area having a plurality of pixels and a CMOS device area disposed outside of the imaging area, the method comprising:
- prior to producing any structures in the CMOS device area, forming a first layer of n conductivity type over a substrate of p conductivity type, wherein the first layer spans the entire image area; and
- forming the plurality of pixels and at least one structure in the CMOS device area.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 1, 2010
Publication Date: Jul 29, 2010
Inventors: Eric G. Stevens (Webster, NY), Hirofumi Komori (Kanagawa)
Application Number: 12/752,279
International Classification: H04N 5/335 (20060101); H01L 27/146 (20060101); H01L 31/18 (20060101); H01L 27/10 (20060101);