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SamsungGranted patentCameras & imagingInterest 6/10

Samsung patents camera lens array using tiny nano-structures to focus light

Samsung describes an image sensor that uses an array of extremely small lenses made from nano-structures to focus light onto camera pixels. The design adjusts the spacing between these nano-structures at the edges of the array to improve how light is captured.

Why it mattersThis technology could help make camera sensors more efficient by using precise nano-scale engineering to gather more light for each pixel.

In the filing’s own words

An image sensor includes a sensor substrate including a plurality of pixels for sensing incident light, and a nano-photonic microlens array including a plurality of nano-photonic microlenses corresponding respectively to the plurality of pixels, wherein each of the plurality of nano-photonic microlenses includes a plurality of nano-structures that are arranged two-dimensionally to condense incident light onto corresponding pixels, and a gap between two nano-structures that are arranged directly facing each other across a boundary between two adjacent nano-photonic microlenses is greater than an arrangement period of the plurality of nano-structures in each of the plurality of nano-photonic microlenses.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An image sensor comprising: a sensor substrate including a plurality of pixels for sensing incident light; and a nano-photonic microlens array including a plurality of nano-photonic microlenses, each of the plurality of nano-photonic microlenses corresponding respectively to one of the plurality of pixels, wherein each of the plurality of nano-photonic microlenses includes a plurality of nano-structures that are arranged two-dimensionally to condense incident light onto its corresponding respective pixel, wherein a gap between two nano-structures that are arranged directly facing each other across a boundary between two adjacent nano-photonic microlenses is greater than an arrangement period between the plurality of nano-structures in each of the plurality of nano-photonic microlenses, wherein when a width of one nano-photonic microlens in a first direction is W x, the arrangement period of the plurality of nano-structures in each of the plurality of nano-photonic microlenses in the first direction is P x, and a number of the nano-structures arranged in the first direction in one nano-photonic microlens is N x, an equation P x = W x N x - α is satisfied, and α has a value greater than 0 at a periphery portion of the nanophotonic microlens array.

Facts

Company
Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
Official title
Image sensor including nano-photonic microlens array and electronic apparatus including the image sensor
Patent number
US12745473B2
Application number
18380914
Filed
Oct 17, 2023
Granted
Sep 22, 2026
Inventors
3
Claims
19

Classified under

H10F 39/8063 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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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.