Sony patents stacked camera sensor design with shared readout circuits
Sony describes a photodetection device that stacks three layers of chips to process light signals. The middle layer uses shared circuits to read data from multiple pixels in sequence, while the top layer handles the final signal processing.
In the filing’s own words
A photodetection device includes: a plurality of pixels; a plurality of first pixel circuits each of which includes a plurality of capacitive elements that holds a voltage signal corresponding to a charge accumulated in the plurality of pixels at the same timing; a plurality of second pixel circuits that is shared by two or more of the first pixel circuits and sequentially reads out charges held in two or more of the capacitive elements to generate a pixel signal; a logic circuit that performs a signal process on the plurality of pixel signals; a first substrate on which the plurality of pixels is arranged; a second substrate laminated on the first substrate and on which the plurality of first pixel circuits and the plurality of second pixel circuits are arranged; and a third substrate laminated on the second substrate and on which the logic circuit is arranged.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A photodetection device, comprising: a plurality of pixels each of which accumulates a charge corresponding to a light amount of incident light; a plurality of first pixel circuits each of which includes a plurality of capacitive elements that holds a voltage signal corresponding to a charge accumulated in the plurality of pixels at the same timing; a plurality of second pixel circuits that is shared by two or more of the first pixel circuits among the plurality of first pixel circuits and sequentially reads out charges held in two or more of the capacitive elements in the two or more of the first pixel circuits to generate a pixel signal; a logic circuit that performs a signal process on a plurality of the pixel signals generated in the plurality of second pixel circuits; a first substrate on which the plurality of pixels is arranged; a second substrate which is laminated on the first substrate and on which the plurality of first pixel circuits and the plurality of second pixel circuits are arranged; and a third substrate which is laminated on the second substrate and on which the logic circuit is arranged.
Facts
- Company
- Sony (SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION)
- Official title
- PHOTODETECTION DEVICE AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE
- Publication number
- US20260262318A1
- Application number
- 19164838
- Filed
- Mar 19, 2024
- Published
- Sep 3, 2026
- Inventors
- 7
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10F 39/809 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/62 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/771 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/78 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/79 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/182 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.