Image sensors having light guide members

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10134811-B2
Application number	US-201715592686-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2017
Priority date	Aug 18, 2014
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

Image sensors include a color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device, a first color filter and a second color filter disposed under the color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device, a first photodiode and a second photodiode disposed under the first color filter and the second color filter, respectively, a first light guide member disposed between the first color filter and the first photodiode, and a second light guide member disposed between the second color filter and the second photodiode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image sensor, comprising:
a color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device;
a plurality of first color photo-sensing photodiodes and a plurality of a second color photo-sensing photodiodes under the color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device; and
a plurality of light guide members between the color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device and at least one of the plurality of first color photo-sensing photodiodes and the plurality of second color photo-sensing photodiodes, wherein
the color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device includes a plurality of first electrodes a second electrode, the plurality of first electrode each at a position corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of light guide members, and the second electrode extending over a region corresponding to the plurality of light guide members,
each of the plurality of first electrodes contact the respective one of the plurality of light guide members, and
a cross-section of each of the plurality of first electrodes narrows going towards the respective one of the plurality of light guide members.

2. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of the first color photo-sensing photodiodes and one of the plurality of the second color photo-sensing photodiodes overlap with each other.

3. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of the first color photo-sensing photodiodes and one of the plurality of the second color photo-sensing photodiodes each contact a surface of a silicon substrate.

4. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of the first color photo-sensing photodiodes and the plurality of the second color photo-sensing photodiodes are in a silicon substrate.

5. The image sensor of claim 1 , further comprising:
an insulation member surrounding the light guide member and disposed between the color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device and the first and second color photo-sensing photodiodes; and
a circuit wire within the insulation member.

6. The image sensor of claim 5 , wherein the light guide member is formed substantially of a transparent material having a refractive index of about 1.8 to about 2.3 for light having a wavelength of 530 nm.

7. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein a cross-section of the light guide member narrows going from the color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device toward one of the plurality of the first color photo-sensing photodiodes or one of the plurality of the second color photo-sensing photodiodes.

8. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein
the color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device is configured to convert green light,
the plurality of the first color photo-sensing photodiodes respectively senses red light, and
the plurality of the second color photo-sensing photodiodes respectively senses blue light.

9. The image sensor of claim 1 , further comprising:
a lens layer including a plurality of convex lenses on the color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device,
wherein
the plurality of convex lenses are each at a position corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of light guide members.

10. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein
an organic semiconductor layer extending over the region corresponding to the plurality of guide members, and interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.

11. An image sensor, comprising:
a silicon substrate including a plurality of blue photo-sensing silicon photodiodes and a plurality of red photo-sensing silicon photodiodes disposed in a depth direction; and
a green photo-sensing organic photoelectric conversion layer on the silicon substrate, wherein
the green photo-sensing organic photoelectric conversion layer includes, sequentially disposed from a light incidence side of the image sensor toward the plurality of blue photo-sensing silicon photodiodes and the plurality of red photo-sensing silicon photodiodes, a front side electrode, an organic semiconductor layer, and a plurality of pixel electrode,
the front side electrode and the pixel electrode each include a transparent conductive oxide,
the silicon substrate, the plurality of blue photo-sensing silicon photodiodes and the plurality of red photo-sensing silicon photodiodes collectively form a front side irradiation CMOS device,
the plurality of pixel electrodes are configured to guide light to each of a plurality of light guide members for blue light and red light in a dielectric layer over the front side irradiation CMOS device, and
a cross-section of the each of the plurality of pixel electrodes narrows going toward a respective one of the plurality of light guide members.

12. The image sensor of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of light guide members include at least one of the plurality of pixel electrodes and other materials having a refractive index of about 1.8 to about 2.3 for light having a wavelength of 530 nm.

13. The image sensor of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of pixel electrodes and the other materials have a refractive index of about 1.9 to about 2.2.

14. The image sensor of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of pixel electrodes and the other materials have a refractive index difference within about 0.1.

15. The image sensor of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of pixel electrodes are formed substantially of includes ITO, and
the other materials are formed substantially of a silicon nitride or a titanium oxide.

16. The image sensor of claim 15 , wherein the dielectric layer is formed substantially of a silicon oxide.

17. The image sensor of claim 12 , wherein one of the plurality of pixel electrodes and the other materials are consecutively disposed to form the plurality of light guide members.

18. The image sensor of claim 12 , wherein an upper side of one of the plurality of pixel electrodes has a width two times or greater than a width of a bottom side of the one of the plurality of light guide members consisting of the other materials.

19. The image sensor of claim 11 , further comprising:
a plurality of on-chip micro-lenses on the green photo-sensing organic photoelectric conversion layer,
wherein a distance between a bottom side of the plurality of on-chip micro-lenses and an upper side of one of the plurality of pixel electrodes is less than about 500 nm.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Kyu Sik
• Ryuichi Satoh
• Lee Gae Hwang

Classifications

• H01L27/286

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/14621

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/022475

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/307 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/14625

  Electricity · mapped topic