Sony patents camera sensor where pixels share a charge storage area
Sony describes a camera sensor design where multiple light-sensing pixels are arranged diagonally and share a single area for storing electrical charge. This shared storage space sits directly between the connected pixels, potentially allowing for more efficient signal processing in the image sensor.
In the filing’s own words
In one example, a solid-state imaging device includes a pixel array with pixels arrayed in a matrix. The pixels include first pixels that respectively include a photoelectric conversion section that performs photoelectric conversion of incident light; a transfer transistor that controls transfer of a charge generated in the photoelectric conversion section; a floating diffusion region that accumulates the charge transferred from the photoelectric conversion section via the transfer transistor; and an amplification transistor that causes a voltage signal corresponding to the charge accumulated in the floating diffusion region to emerge in a signal line. The first pixels are arrayed in a first diagonal direction in the pixel array, and at least two of the first pixels arrayed in the first diagonal direction share one region defined as the floating diffusion region.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A solid-state imaging device comprising: a pixel array section including a plurality of pixels arrayed in a matrix, the pixels including a plurality of first pixels that respectively perform photoelectric conversion of light of a first wavelength component, wherein each of the pixels includes: a photoelectric conversion section that performs photoelectric conversion of incident light; a transfer transistor that controls transfer of a charge generated in the photoelectric conversion section; a floating diffusion region that accumulates the charge transferred from the photoelectric conversion section via the transfer transistor; and an amplification transistor that causes a voltage signal corresponding to the charge accumulated in the floating diffusion region to emerge in a signal line, the plurality of first pixels is arrayed in a first diagonal direction in the pixel array section, and at least two first pixels of the plurality of first pixels arrayed in the first diagonal direction share one region defined as the floating diffusion region, wherein the floating diffusion region is disposed directly between the two first pixels sharing the floating diffusion region along the first diagonal direction.
Facts
- Company
- Sony (Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation)
- Official title
- Solid-state imaging device and electronic device
- Patent number
- US12732712B2
- Application number
- 18712294
- Filed
- Dec 28, 2022
- Granted
- Sep 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 16
Classified under
H04N 25/135 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/77 Electricity & electronicsMore from Sony in Cameras & imaging
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.