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Samsung patents image sensor design with dual buried gates for pixels

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Samsung has filed a patent for an image sensor that uses two separate buried gates within each pixel area. These gates are connected together and surrounded by spacers to manage how light is converted into electrical signals on the chip.

Why it mattersThis is a detailed hardware improvement that may help refine how camera sensors capture light, though it does not confirm a specific new product.

In the filing’s own words

An image sensor including a substrate having a pixel region, a floating diffusion region in the pixel region of the substrate, a plurality of photoelectric conversion regions around the floating diffusion region in the substrate, a plurality of transmission gates adjacent to the plurality of photoelectric conversion regions, respectively, each including a first buried gate extending to the inside of the substrate, a second buried gate apart from the first buried gate and extending to the inside of the substrate, and a gate connection between the first buried gate and the second buried gate, and a plurality of spacers each on at least parts of side walls of each of the plurality of transmission gates, wherein each of the plurality of spacers is between the side walls of each of the plurality of transmission gates and the floating diffusion region in a plan view.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An image sensor comprising: a substrate comprising a pixel region, a first surface, and a second surface opposing the first surface; a buried insulating layer on the first surface; first to fourth sub-pixel regions arranged in a 2 x 2 matrix in the pixel region in a plan view; and a first isolation layer encircling the first to fourth sub-pixel regions and penetrating the substrate, wherein each of the first to fourth sub-pixel regions comprises: a first buried gate extending into the substrate from the first surface; a second buried gate extending into the substrate from the first surface; a gate connection disposed on the buried insulating layer and connecting the first buried gate and the second buried gate to each other; and a first contact disposed on the buried insulating layer and electrically coupled to the first buried gate, wherein the gate connections in each of the first to fourth sub-pixel regions are spaced apart from each other on the buried insulating layer in the plan view, and wherein the second buried gate in each of the first to fourth sub-pixel regions is electrically coupled to the first contact through the gate connection.

Facts

Company
Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
Official title
IMAGE SENSOR
Publication number
US20260314091A1
Application number
19706569
Filed
Jun 12, 2026
Published
Oct 8, 2026
Inventors
3
Claims
20

Classified under

H10F 39/80373 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/014 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/182 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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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.