Image sensor and electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025185395-A1
Application number	US-202418936321-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 4, 2024
Priority date	Dec 4, 2023
Publication date	Jun 5, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate including a plurality of photodiodes, a color filter layer on the semiconductor substrate and including a plurality of color filters arranged along an in-plane direction of the semiconductor substrate, and an organic intermediate layer between the semiconductor substrate and the color filter layer and including a singlet fission material. An extinction coefficient of the organic intermediate layer at a maximum absorption wavelength is greater than or equal to 1×10 4 cm −1 , and a singlet fission efficiency of the organic intermediate layer is greater than 50%.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An image sensor comprising:
a semiconductor substrate comprising a plurality of photodiodes; a color filter layer on the semiconductor substrate, the color filter layer comprising a plurality of color filters arranged along an in-plane direction of the semiconductor substrate; and an organic intermediate layer between the semiconductor substrate and the color filter layer, the organic intermediate layer comprising a singlet fission material, wherein an extinction coefficient of the organic intermediate layer at a maximum absorption wavelength is greater than or equal to 1×10 4 cm −1 , and a singlet fission efficiency of the organic intermediate layer is greater than 50%.

2 . The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein the singlet fission material is an organic material that has an energy level according to Relation Formula 1:

E
⁡
(

S
1

)

+

0.5

eV

≥

2
×

E
⁡
(

T
1

)

[

Relation
⁢

Formula
⁢

1

]

wherein, in Relation Formula 1,
E(S 1 ) corresponds to an excitation energy in a lowest singlet excited state of the singlet fission material,
E(T 1 ) corresponds to an excitation energy in a lowest triplet excited state of the singlet fission material, and
E(S 1 ) and E(T 1 ) are density functional theory (DFT) calculation values.

3 . The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein an extinction coefficient of the organic intermediate layer at a maximum absorption wavelength is between 1.5×10 4 cm −1 to 1.0×10 6 cm −1 .

4 . The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein a singlet fission efficiency of the organic intermediate layer is between 65% to 100%.

5 . The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein
the photodiode comprises an inorganic semiconductor, and an excitation energy in a triplet state of the singlet fission material is greater than or equal to an energy bandgap of the inorganic semiconductor of the photodiode.

6 . The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein the organic intermediate layer further comprises a phosphorescent dopant.

7 . The image sensor of claim 6 , wherein
the photodiode comprises an inorganic semiconductor, and an energy bandgap of the phosphorescent dopant is greater than or equal to an energy bandgap of the inorganic semiconductor of the photodiode.

8 . The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein the maximum absorption wavelength of the singlet fission material is within 380 nm to 700 nm.

9 . The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein the singlet fission material is configured to absorb light in at least two wavelength spectra from among a red wavelength spectrum, a green wavelength spectrum, or a blue wavelength spectrum.

10 . The image sensor of claim 1 , further comprising:
an inorganic intermediate layer between the semiconductor substrate and the organic intermediate layer.

11 . The image sensor of claim 10 , wherein the inorganic intermediate layer comprises at least one of an oxide, nitride, oxynitride, fluoride or oxyfluoride comprising a metal or a semi-metal.

12 . The image sensor of claim 10 , wherein a thickness of the inorganic intermediate layer is 1 nm to 10 nm.

13 . The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein the image sensor exhibits an external quantum efficiency of greater than about 100%.

14 . An image sensor configured to obtain an image by combining image signals obtained by photoelectrically converting light in a red wavelength spectrum, a green wavelength spectrum, and a blue wavelength spectrum, the image sensor comprising
a color filter layer comprising a first color filter configured to selectively transmit light included in a red wavelength spectrum, a second color filter configured to selectively transmit light included in a green wavelength spectrum, and a third color filter configured to selectively transmit light included in a blue wavelength spectrum, an organic intermediate layer comprising an organic singlet fission material configured to absorb light transmitted through the color filter layer, to convert the absorbed light into photoelectricity and satisfying an energy level of Relation Formula 1, an inorganic photodiode on the organic intermediate layer, and an inorganic intermediate layer between the organic intermediate layer and the inorganic photodiode, the inorganic intermediate layer comprising at least one of an oxide, nitride, oxynitride, fluoride or oxyfluoride comprising a metal or a semi-metal, or any combination thereof, wherein a maximum external quantum efficiency of the image sensor in at least one of a red wavelength spectrum, a green wavelength spectrum, and a blue wavelength spectrum is greater than a maximum external quantum efficiency of the inorganic photodiode in the same wavelength spectrum, and Reaction Formula 1 is given as

E
⁡
(

S
1

)

+

0.5

eV

≥

2
×

E
⁡
(

T
1

)

[

Relation
⁢

Formula
⁢

1

]

wherein, in Relation Formula 1,
E(S 1 ) corresponds to an excitation energy in a lowest singlet excited state of the singlet fission

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Fang Feifei
• Yun Sungyoung
• Lim Juhyung
• Kim Hyeong-Ju
• Park Kyung Bae
• Park Jeong Il
• Shibuya Hiromasa
• Yi Jeoung In
• Lim Younhee
• Choi Tae Jin
• Hong Hyerim

Classifications

• H10F39/18

  Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor [CMOS] image sensors; Photodiode array image sensors · CPC title

• H10F39/806

  Optical elements or arrangements associated with the image sensors · CPC title

• H10F39/805 Primary

  Coatings · CPC title

• H10F39/8053 Primary

  Colour filters · CPC title

• H10F39/182

  Colour image sensors · CPC title