Samsung patents image sensor with uneven metal contacts
Samsung describes an image sensor design where two separate light-capturing layers are stacked within the chip. The electrical connections, or contacts, linking these layers to the rest of the circuit have different heights to manage the physical structure.
In the filing’s own words
An image sensor includes a substrate, a pixel array region in the substrate, a first photodiode layer and a second photodiode layer in the pixel array region, and a separation trench between the first photodiode layer and the second photodiode layer. First and second impurity injection regions may be on a first surface of the substrate and a first and second contacts may overlap and electrically connect to the first impurity injection region and the second impurity injection region, respectively. The heights of the first contact and second contact may be different from each other.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An image sensor comprising: a substrate including a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface; a pixel array region in the substrate; a first photodiode layer and a second photodiode layer in the pixel array region; a separation trench between the first photodiode layer and the second photodiode layer; a first impurity injection region on the first surface; a second impurity injection region on the first surface; a first contact vertically overlapping the first impurity injection region and electrically connected to the first impurity injection region; and a second contact vertically overlapping the second impurity injection region and electrically connected to the second impurity injection region, wherein a height of the first contact in a thickness direction of the substrate is different from a height of the second contact in the thickness direction.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- IMAGE SENSOR WITH CONTACTS OF DIFFERENT HEIGHTS
- Publication number
- US20260262304A1
- Application number
- 19654989
- Filed
- Apr 22, 2026
- Published
- Sep 3, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10F 39/18 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/014 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/802 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/807 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.