Sample and hold switch driver circuitry with slope control
Granted: December 28, 2021
Patent Number:
11212467
A switch driver circuit includes a first transistor coupled between a voltage supply and a first output node. A second transistor is coupled between the first output node and a first discharge node. A first slope control circuit is coupled to the first discharge node to discharge the first discharge node at a first slope. A third transistor is coupled between the voltage supply and a second output node. A fourth transistor is coupled between the second output node and a second discharge…
High dynamic range CMOS image sensor design
Granted: December 28, 2021
Patent Number:
11212457
A pixel cell includes a first subpixel and a plurality of second subpixels. Each subpixel includes a photodiode to photogenerate image charge in response to incident light. Image charge is transferred from the first subpixel to a floating diffusion through a first transfer transistor. Image charge is transferred from the plurality of second subpixels to the floating diffusion through a plurality of second transfer transistors. An attenuation layer is disposed over the first subpixel. The…
Sensor comprising gate modulation with inductor to form a resonant circuit
Granted: December 28, 2021
Patent Number:
11211421
A sensor includes a photodiode disposed in a semiconductor material to receive light and convert the light into charge, and a first floating diffusion coupled to the photodiode to receive the charge. A second floating diffusion is coupled to the photodiode to receive the charge, and a first transfer transistor is coupled to transfer the charge from the photodiode into the first floating diffusion. A second transfer transistor is coupled to transfer the charge from the photodiode into the…
Image sensor package
Granted: December 28, 2021
Patent Number:
11211414
An image sensor package includes a transparent substrate with a recess formed in the transparent substrate, and an image sensor positioned in the recess so that light incident on the transparent substrate passes through the transparent substrate to the image sensor. The image sensor package also includes a circuit board electrically disposed in the recess and coupled to receive image data from the image sensor, and the image sensor is positioned in the recess between the circuit board…
Image sensor with frame level black level calibration
Granted: December 21, 2021
Patent Number:
11206392
An image sensor includes a pixel array with active rows of pixel cells, a black level calibration row with black image data generation circuits coupled to generate black image data signals representative of an absence of the incident light, and a dummy row with black level clamping circuits coupled to receive a black sun reference voltage to clamp bitlines of the pixel array, and a black level calibration circuit coupled to receive the black sun reference voltage to generate a black sun…
Data readout power saving techniques for shift register structure
Granted: December 21, 2021
Patent Number:
11206368
A data transmission circuit of an image sensor. In one embodiment, the data transmission circuit includes a plurality of banks coupled in a series. A peripheral bank of the plurality of transmission banks is coupled to a function logic. Each bank includes a plurality of local buffers coupled to a local buffer control and a plurality of global buffers coupled to a global buffer control. The local buffers are settable to their enabled or disabled state by a bank enable command at the local…
Comparator stage with DC cut device for single slope analog to digital converter
Granted: December 21, 2021
Patent Number:
11206039
A comparator includes a second stage coupled between a first stage and a third stage. The second stage includes a first transistor coupled to be switched in response to a first output signal coupled to be received from the first stage. The first transistor is coupled generate a second output signal coupled to be received by the third stage. A second transistor is coupled to the first transistor. The first and second transistors are coupled between a first supply voltage and a reference…
Semiconductor devices, semiconductor wafers, and methods of manufacturing the same
Granted: December 14, 2021
Patent Number:
11201124
The present disclosure provides a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate and a first deep trench isolation (DTI) structure filled with a dielectric material formed on the semiconductor substrate. The first DTI structure is disposed in the first seal ring region and is extended into the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate has a pixel array region and a first seal ring region. The first seal ring region is proximate to an edge of…
Subrange ADC for image sensor
Granted: December 7, 2021
Patent Number:
11196949
A subrange analog-to-digital converter (ADC) converts analog image signal received from a bitline to a digital signal through an ADC comparator. The comparator is shared by a successive approximation register (SAR) ADC coupled to provide M upper output bits (UOB) of the subrange ADC and a ramp ADC coupled to provide N lower output bits (LOB). The digital-to-analog converter (DAC) of the SAR ADC comprises M buffered bit capacitors connected to the comparator. Each buffered bit capacitor…
Dark current reduction for image sensor having electronic global shutter and image storage capacitors
Granted: December 7, 2021
Patent Number:
11196950
An image sensor has an array of pixels, each pixel having an associated shutter transistor coupled to transfer a charge dependent on light exposure of the pixel onto an image storage capacitor, the image-storage capacitors being configured to be read into an analog to digital converter. The shutter transistors are P-type transistors in N-wells, the wells held at an analog power voltage to reduce sensitivity of pixels to dark current; in an alternative embodiment the shutter transistors…
Flip-chip sample imaging devices with self-aligning lid
Granted: December 7, 2021
Patent Number:
11195864
A flip-chip sample imaging device with self-aligning lid includes an image sensor chip, a fan-out substrate, and a lid. The image sensor chip includes (a) a pixel array sensitive to light incident on a first side of the image sensor chip and (b) first electrical contacts disposed on the first side and electrically connected to the pixel array. The fan-out substrate is disposed on the first side, is electrically connected to the first electrical contacts, forms an aperture over the pixel…
Isolation structure for suppressing floating diffusion junction leakage in CMOS image sensor
Granted: November 30, 2021
Patent Number:
11189655
A pixel array is provided that addresses leaking current at or near the floating diffusion region of the pixel cells. The pixel array includes an arrangement of trench isolation structures, including both front side deep trench isolation structure and front side shallow trench isolation structure that isolate the transistor channel regions from the pixel regions (e.g., photodiodes) of the pixel array. Example embodiments also include deep (N) doped wells that extend beneath the pixel…
LCOS display panel having UV cut filter
Granted: November 30, 2021
Patent Number:
11187933
A LCOS display panel comprises a silicon substrate, a pixel structure on the silicon substrate, a first and a second PI (polyimide) layers, a LC (liquid crystal) layer between the first and the second PI layers, wherein the second PI layer is disposed on the pixel structure, and the LC layer is disposed on the second PI layer, a glass substrate, an ITO (indium tin oxide) layer, a dam sealing a perimeter of the LCOS display panel to enclose the LC layer within the dam, wherein the dam is…
Impedance matching system for high speed digital receivers
Granted: November 23, 2021
Patent Number:
11184196
A digital differential line receiver includes a differential signal to single-ended conversion amplifier coupled to receive a data line and data-complement line of a differential signal; a first termination resistor coupled to the data line of the differential signal; a second termination resistor coupled to the data-complement line of the differential signal; a first impedance-adjusting transistor coupled between the first termination resistor and a common mode line; a second…
Camera system with PWM-activated, burst-self-refresh, DRAM to reduce standby power consumption
Granted: November 23, 2021
Patent Number:
11182319
A low-power image capture device includes a first image buffer in SRAM coupled to receive images from an image sensor, and a second image buffer receiving images transferred in bursts from the first image buffer, the second image buffer implemented in PASR DRAM, the image buffers together operating as a first-in, first-out, (FIFO) buffer. The device includes an activation detector. The PASR DRAM is powered while receiving bursts of images from the first image buffer, and when the image…
Photon sensing with threshold detection using capacitor-based comparator
Granted: November 23, 2021
Patent Number:
11181419
A threshold detection circuit includes a plurality of capacitors. A plurality of switching circuits is coupled to the capacitors such that a first end of each of the capacitors is coupled to a corresponding photon sensor during detection intervals, and the first end of each capacitor is coupled to a variable initialization value during reset intervals. A threshold number of the capacitors are initialized to a first value and the remaining capacitors are initialized to a second value…
Medical micro-cable structure and connection method with mini camera cube chip
Granted: November 16, 2021
Patent Number:
11172806
A novel endoscope includes a camera module, an electrical cable, and an electrical connector. The camera module includes an analog image signal output terminal. The cable includes an analog image signal line having a first end connected to the analog image signal output terminal of the camera module. The electrical connector includes a set of electrical contacts configured to engage a complimentary set of electrical contacts of a host system. The set of electrical contacts includes at…
Data readout with active reset feedback amplifier for stacked image sensor
Granted: November 2, 2021
Patent Number:
11165983
An image sensor comprises a pixel array of pixel cells. A pixel cell comprises a photodiode, a reset transistor, a transfer transistor, at least one source follower transistor, a sample and hold circuit, an active reset transistor, and a readout transistor. A readout circuitry reads out image data from each columns of pixel cells. A column differential amplifier in the readout circuitry feeds back a column reset drive voltage to each pixel cells arranged in the same column. Signal data…
Image sensor chip-scale-package
Granted: November 2, 2021
Patent Number:
11164900
An image sensor chip-scale package includes a pixel array, a cover glass covering the pixel array, a dam, and an adhesive layer. The pixel array is embedded in a substrate top-surface of a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate includes a plurality of conductive pads in a peripheral region of the semiconductor substrate surrounding the pixel array. The dam at least partially surrounds the pixel array and is located (i) between the cover glass and the semiconductor…
Image sensor with micro-structured color filter
Granted: October 26, 2021
Patent Number:
11158661
An image sensor includes a two-dimensional photodiode-array formed in a semiconductor substrate, a first waveguide, and a first color filter. The first waveguide is aligned to a first photodiode of the photodiode-array, located above a top substrate surface of the semiconductor substrate. A first core of the first waveguide has a first core width that is less than a pitch of the photodiode-array in a first direction and a second direction corresponding to respective orthogonal dimensions…
