Samsung patents image sensor with uneven gate structures
Samsung describes an image sensor design where two different types of light-collecting areas are separated by an insulating layer. The invention focuses on the specific shape of the electronic switches, or transmission gates, that move data from these areas, noting that one switch is wider than the other at the surface level.
In the filing’s own words
An image sensor includes a substrate having first and second surfaces, a first and second photoelectric conversion regions (PDs), a pixel device isolation layer between the first and second PDs, and first and second transmission gates that each include a respective first portion extending into the substrate from the substrate first surface and a respective second portion protruding from the substrate first surface. Each of the first and second transmission gates vertically overlaps the first PD, and a width of the second portion of the first transmission gate on the first surface in a first direction parallel to the first surface is greater than a width of the second portion of the second transmission gate on the first surface in the first direction.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An image sensor, comprising: a substrate, the substrate including a first surface and a second surface, the second surface opposing the first surface; a first photoelectric conversion region (first PD); a second photoelectric conversion region (second PD); a pixel device isolation layer between the first PD and the second PD; and a first transmission gate and a second transmission gate, the first transmission gate including a first transmission gate first portion extending into the substrate from the first surface and a first transmission gate second portion protruding from the first surface, the second transmission gate including a second transmission gate first portion extending into the substrate from the first surface and a second transmission gate second portion protruding from the first surface, wherein each of the first transmission gate and the second transmission gate vertically overlaps the first PD, and wherein a width of the first transmission gate second portion on the first surface in a first direction parallel to the first surface is greater than a width of the second transmission gate second portion on the first surface in the first direction.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- IMAGE SENSOR
- Publication number
- US20260304973A1
- Application number
- 19702391
- Filed
- Jun 9, 2026
- Published
- Oct 1, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10F 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.