Sony patents camera sensor design with shield layer to protect signal path
Sony describes a photodetector structure where a light-sensitive layer and a signal amplifier are stacked on a separate chip containing transistors. A specific shield layer is placed on the connection path between the light sensor and the transistors to apply a fixed electrical potential. This design aims to manage the electrical environment of the signal as it moves from the light receiver to the processing chips.
In the filing’s own words
A photodetector according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a first substrate having a first face and a second face opposed to each other, and having a pixel array section; a second substrate stacked on a side of the first face of the first substrate, and having a semiconductor layer with one or more transistors; a light receiving element inside the first substrate for each of the pixels, and having a light receiver and a multiplier, the light receiver generating carriers corresponding to an amount of received light by photoelectric conversion, the multiplier avalanche multiplying the generated carriers; a first contact layer on the first face of the first substrate and electrically coupled to the light receiver; and a shield layer on a path coupling the first contact layer and the one or more transistors, and to which a predetermined potential is to be applied.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A photodetector, comprising: a first substrate having a first face and a second face opposed to each other, and having a pixel array section in which a plurality of pixels is arranged in an array in an in-plane direction; a second substrate stacked on a side of the first face of the first substrate, and having a semiconductor layer provided with one or more transistors; a light receiving element provided inside the first substrate for each of the pixels, and having a light receiver and a multiplier, the light receiver that generates carriers corresponding to an amount of received light by photoelectric conversion, the multiplier that avalanche-multiplies the carriers generated by the light receiver; a first contact layer that is provided on the first face of the first substrate, and is electrically coupled to the light receiver; and a shield layer that is provided on a path coupling the first contact layer and the one or more transistors, and to which a predetermined potential is to be applied.
Facts
- Company
- Sony (SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION)
- Official title
- PHOTODETECTOR
- Publication number
- US20260282587A1
- Application number
- 19167901
- Filed
- Feb 16, 2024
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Inventors
- 1
- Claims
- 19
Classified under
H10F 39/809 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/811 Electricity & electronicsH10W 42/271 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.