/Patent Tracker
SamsungGranted patentChips & hardwareInterest 4/10

Samsung patents image sensor design with diamond-shaped silicon layers

Samsung has been granted a patent for a specific way to build image sensors, which are the components that capture light in cameras. The design uses a grid of pixels separated by insulating walls, where some of these walls feature a diamond-shaped silicon layer to help manage electrical signals.

Why it mattersThis is a detailed manufacturing technique that could help improve the efficiency or quality of camera sensors in future devices, though it does not describe a new product feature.

In the filing’s own words

An image sensor includes a substrate including a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, and a pixel separation part in the substrate, the pixel separation part separating a plurality of pixels from each other, the plurality of pixels including first to fourth pixels in a clockwise direction, the pixel separation part including a first part between the first and second pixels, and a second part between the first pixel and the third pixel. Each of the first part and the second part includes a first dielectric pattern covering a lateral surface of the substrate, and a first silicon pattern covering a lateral surface of the first dielectric pattern. The second part further includes a second silicon pattern adjacent to a sidewall of the first silicon pattern. The second silicon pattern has a rhombic shape in a plan view.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An image sensor, comprising: a substrate including a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; and a pixel separation part in the substrate, the pixel separation part separating a plurality of pixels from each other, the plurality of pixels including a first pixel, a second pixel, a third pixel, and a fourth pixel in a clockwise direction, the pixel separation part including, a first part between the first pixel and the second pixel, and a second part between the first pixel and the third pixel, wherein each of the first part and the second part includes, a first dielectric pattern covering a lateral surface of the substrate, and a first silicon pattern covering a lateral surface of the first dielectric pattern, and the second part further includes a second silicon pattern adjacent to a sidewall of the first silicon pattern, the second silicon pattern having a rhombic shape in a plan view.

Facts

Company
Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
Official title
Image sensor and method of fabricating the same
Patent number
US12740174B2
Application number
18446752
Filed
Aug 9, 2023
Granted
Sep 15, 2026
Inventors
4
Claims
20

Classified under

H10F 39/807 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/802 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/811 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

More from Samsung in Chips & hardware

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.