Samsung patents image sensor design with conductive liner in isolation pattern
Samsung has been granted a patent for an image sensor design that uses a specific arrangement of insulating and conductive layers between pixel areas. The invention describes a device isolation pattern that includes a conductive liner sandwiched between two dielectric patterns to separate the sensor's pixels.
In the filing’s own words
An image sensor includes a substrate that includes a plurality of pixel areas, where the substrate includes a first surface and a second surface that are opposite to each other; and a device isolation pattern that extends from the first surface and into the substrate, where the device isolation pattern is between the plurality of pixel areas, where the device isolation pattern includes an intervening region, a crossing region, a first device isolation portion, and a second device isolation portion, where the intervening region includes: a first dielectric pattern; a conductive liner; and a second dielectric pattern, where the first dielectric pattern extends from the first device isolation portion and toward the second device isolation portion, and where the first device isolation portion includes the conductive liner and the second dielectric pattern.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An image sensor, comprising: a substrate that comprises a plurality of pixel areas, wherein the substrate comprises a first surface and a second surface that are opposite to each other; and a device isolation pattern that extends from the first surface and into the substrate, wherein the device isolation pattern is between the plurality of pixel areas, wherein the device isolation pattern comprises an intervening region, a crossing region, a first device isolation portion, and a second device isolation portion, wherein the intervening region comprises: a first dielectric pattern; a conductive liner that contacts a sidewall of the first dielectric pattern; and a second dielectric pattern that contacts a sidewall of the conductive liner and a top surface of the conductive liner, wherein the first dielectric pattern extends from the first device isolation portion and toward the second device isolation portion, and wherein the first device isolation portion comprises the conductive liner and the second dielectric pattern.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- Image sensor having a device isolation pattern containing a conductive liner and method of fabricating the same
- Patent number
- US12772590B2
- Application number
- 18393786
- Filed
- Dec 22, 2023
- Granted
- Oct 20, 2026
- Inventors
- 1
- Claims
- 19
Classified under
H10F 39/807 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/182 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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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.