Patent Abstract:
The present invention relates to a junction gate photo-diode (JGP) pixel that includes a JGP for accumulating charge in response to impinging photons. The JGP is positioned on a substrate and includes a top n layer, a middle p layer and a bottom n layer forming a n-p-n junction, and a control terminal coupled to the top n layer. Also included is a floating diffusion (FD) positioned on the substrate and coupled to a pixel output line through an amplifier. Also included is a pinned barrier (PB) positioned on the substrate between the JGP and the FD, the PB temporarily blocks charge transfer between the JGP and the FD. The accumulated charge is transferred from the JGP to FD by applying a control voltage to the JGP control terminal.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/479,496, filed Apr. 27, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates, in general, to a back side illuminated (BSI) image sensor that implements pixels having junction gate photo-diodes (JGPs) and pinned barriers. The charge well potential of the JGP is controllable which eliminates the need for a conventional complementary metal-oxide semi-conductor (CMOS) transfer gates. The conventional MOS source follower transistor may also be replaced by a junction field effect transistor (JFET). The present invention also provides a feedback circuit that couples a column amplifier to a floating diffusion (FD) of the pixels through a capacitor to minimize voltage swing. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    In conventional CMOS sensors, the circuitry for a plurality of photo-diodes is shared. The pixels may include two photo-diodes located in neighboring rows that share the same circuitry. Such a shared circuit concept can result in having two metal bus lines in the row direction and two metal bus lines in the column direction per photo-diode as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0004]    Circuit  100  represents the schematic diagram of a four transistor (4T) shared circuit pixel with two photo-diodes  107  and  108 . The photo-diodes are coupled through charge transfer transistors  109  and  110  respectively to a common floating diffusion (FD) charge detection node  115 . The FD node  115  is connected to the gate of the source follower (SF) transistor  112 , whose drain is connected via line  116  to the Vdd column bus line  101 . The source of the SF is connected via the address transistor Sx  113  and line  117  to output signal column bus line  102 . The FD node is reset by transistor  111  whose drain is connected to line  116 . The control signals to the address transistor  113 , the reset transistor  111 , and charge transfer transistors  109  and  110  are supplied by the row bus lines  114 ,  106 ,  104  and  105  respectively. As can be seen from the schematic diagram, the circuit that has two photo-diodes, and includes two row bus lines and two column bus lines per photodiode. In conventional circuits, it is also necessary to provide an additional connections between the elements of the circuit in the column direction as is illustrated by the wire  103 . 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  shows a schematic diagram of a row-shared pixel circuit with two pinned photo-diodes per circuit that is operating on the 4T principle. 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  shows a cross-sectional view of the back side illuminated JGP pixel, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0007]      FIG. 3 . shows a potential profile for the structure shown in  FIG. 2 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0008]      FIG. 4 . shows a potential profile under the JGP, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 5 . shows a top view of a 4 JGP pixel layout where the JGPs share the same circuits, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 6  shows another top view of a 4 JGP pixel layout where the JGPs share the same circuits including a JFET source follower, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the device shown in  FIG. 6  through cut AA′, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram of 4 JGPs that share the same circuits including a column amplifier, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 9  shows a timing diagram for the sensor operation of the circuit shown in  FIG. 8 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0014]    In general, the present invention provides a JGP pixel design with vertical blooming control, which may be used in high performance back-side illuminated (BSI) image sensor arrays. The vertical blooming control provides a reduction in the pixel size, thereby providing a BSI image senor array with high pixel density while preserving the pixel high well capacity, low dark current, high Dynamic Range, and low noise. 
         [0015]    Several embodiments of the invention are described that use a plurality of JGPs and shared circuitry. A negative feedback into the floating diffusion (FD) node is also described which reduces the voltage swing on the FD node, reduces the source follower (SF) noise, and increases the dynamic range (DR) of the sensor while obtaining a small pixel size. 
         [0016]    A JGP is a photo-diode that has a control gate. This allows the JGP to be biased differently during charge integration and charge transfer. The bias can be lowered during the charge transfer cycle, and charge transferred to the FD through a pinned charge transfer barrier. An advantage of the JGP is vertical blooming control and low dark current since the dark current generated at the silicon-silicon dioxide interface is drained directly to the gate. The potential profile of the structure may be designed such that the overflow charge is also drained to the gate. 
         [0017]    The basic concept of junction gate photodiode JGP pixel is shown in  FIG. 2 . The cross section through the JGP pixel, pinned barrier region, and the floating diffusion region (FD) is shown. The JGP pixel is formed on a p-type doped substrate  202  that has a p+ doped layer  201  deposited on the back surface to reduce the dark current generation. Oxide layer  203  covers the whole structure and serves also as a gate oxide for MOS transistors (not shown). This layer is covered by another layer of oxide  204  that serves as isolation for metal wiring. The n+ doped layer  205  is the portion of the junction gate that together with the p-doped layer  210  forms the junction. The p-type doped layer  210  provides the blocking barrier for signal electrons that are accumulated in another n-doped layer  211  where the potential wells are formed, thereby forming an n-p-n structure. 
         [0018]    The JGP is adjacent to a pinned barrier that includes a p+ doped layer  206  and an n- type doped buried channel  211 . Adjacent to the pinned barrier is the floating diffusion formed by n+ doped region  207 . The pixels are separated from each other by channel stop p+ type doped regions  208  and  209 . Another p+ type doped region  212  is placed under the FD to prevent electrons  214  from flowing to the FD. In general, electrons are diverted and cross the depletion edge boundary  215  to be collected in the JGP potential well. Electrons  213  generated by photons  217  flow directly to the JGP potential well. The metal vias  216  connect the JGP and FD to the wiring of the pixel that is not shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0019]      FIG. 3  shows a potential diagram of the potential maxima profile across the structure shown in  FIG. 2 . The potential in the channel stop region is ground  308  corresponding to 0V. The potential under the JGP has two levels (lower potential  301  and higher potential  302 ) respectively that correspond to low JGP bias and high JGP bias. When the JGP bias is high, the photon generated electrons  306  are collected in potential well  302 . When the JGP bias is low, electrons  307  are transferred over the pinned barrier Vpb that has the potential  303 , and flow into the FD region that is biased at potential level  304 . In general, when the potential of the well is increased, the well is lowered (i.e. deeper), and when the potential of the well is decreased, the well is raised (i.e. shallow). 
         [0020]    In general, this is the level of the FD regions in the addressed line. The FD regions of the un-addressed lines are biased at potential level  305 . The advantage of the JGP, is its small size, built in anti-blooming, high well capacity, and low dark current. The dark current electrons that are generated at the silicon-silicon dioxide interface are not collected in the signal well, and flow into the n+ type doped region of JGP. Similarly the overflow electrons flow over barrier region  210  into the junction gate. 
         [0021]    The potential profile under the JGP in a vertical direction from the surface of the silicon into the silicon bulk is shown in  FIG. 4 . Graph  401  represents the potential profile when the JGP is biased high and graph  402  shows the potential profile when the JGP is biased low. Electrons  411  are collected in JGP potential well  403  during high JGP bias, and are transferred as electrons  410  over the pinned barrier at level  407  into the FD region that is biased at level  408 . The FDs of the un-addressed lines are biased at level  409 . The n+ type doped region  205  corresponds to depth  404  where the first junction of the JGP is located. The p-type doped barrier region  405  forms the second junction of the JGP at the depth of xj+xb and also serves as the anti-blooming barrier that allows overflow electrons  412  to flow into the JGP. The n-type doped region  406  forms the potential well for the signal electrons. 
         [0022]    An example of one embodiment of the invention is shown in  FIG. 5  which shows a top view of the group of 4-pixels that share common circuitry. Regions  501  are JGPs with adjacent pinned barriers  502 . The FD region is region  503  that is connected by a metal wiring to the gate of p-channel JFET transistor  506 . The channel of the JFET is region  509  with the source being region  510  and the drain being region  511  which is connected to ground. The JFET is located in a mini n-well  507 , and mini n-well is reset to a Vdd potential by a reset transistor  508 . In this embodiment, the 4 pixels are isolated from each other and from the rest of the pixels in the array by channel stop regions  504 . The ground contact is contact  505  and the metal wiring  512  that is using the metal  1  (M 1 ) layer is partially shown to simplify the figure. Metal  2  (M 2 ) layer forms wiring  513 . 
         [0023]    Another embodiment is shown in  FIG. 6  which shows a top view of the 4 JGPs that share common circuitry. Region  601  are the JGPs that are separated from each other by the channel stop regions  604 . The JGPs interface with pinned barrier regions  602  that further interface with a common mini n-well region  605 . The mini n-well is reset by a reset transistor  603  that has drain region  611  and source region  610 . Source region  610  is contiguous with the mini n-well. The mini n-well contains the p-channel JFET transistor that has channel  606 . The gate  607  of this transistor is contiguous with the mini n-well. 
         [0024]    There is also a feedback capacitor region  608  formed over the JFET gate which provides negative feedback from the column amplifier into the pixel. The circuit component isolation is provided by the STI region  612 . The ground to the circuit is provided via the ground contact  609  to the channel stop region. To improve the clarity of the figure, the metal wiring was omitted from the diagram. For a better understanding of the pixel architecture, a cross-section through the cut AA′ is shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0025]    The device cross-section shows the p-type doped substrate  702  with a p+ type doped layer  701  at the device back surface that reduces the dark current generation. Another p+ type doped layer  703  is placed under the mini n-well  705  to prevent the photon generated electrons from the silicon bulk to flow into this region. The JFET channel is formed by region  706 , and is pinched by the n+ type doped JFET gate  707  that is electrically connected to the mini n-well. An advantage of this structure is that a contact and a metal wire that is typically necessary for connecting the FD with the gate of the MOS transistor source follower may be eliminated. This saves valuable area of the pixel. Furthermore, the drain of the JFET transistor is connected to the channel stop region  704  that surrounds every pixel and is grounded to the ground bias via the contact  609  (not shown). 
         [0026]    The reset of the mini n-well is provided by the reset transistor with gate  712 , n+ type doped source  714  and drain  713 . The structure has a gate oxide  708  grown on top of the silicon that serves as a gate insulator for the MOS transistors in other circuits of the image sensor array. Another oxide layer  709  is deposited on top of gate oxide  708 , which provides the metal wiring isolation and which also fills the STI region defined by lines  612 . A metal via to JFET source contact  711  provides the connection to the column signal line, and metal plug  710  provides the connection to the column feedback line, and at the same times forms a capacitor coupling to JFET gate  707 . The drain of the JFET is connected to the STI p+ type doped isolation region and to the channel stop regions. 
         [0027]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , the JGP is indicated by the symbol  801 , which is connected to pinned barrier  802  that is an n-channel JFET transistor with a grounded gate. The pinned barrier interfaces with the gate of p-channel JFET transistor  804  that is reset by MOS transistor  803  to a voltage supplied through a column bus line  813 . The output from the pixel is output on signal column bus line  810  and is supplied to the negative input node of inverting column feedback amplifier  808 . The column circuit  806  therefore includes column amplifier  808  and switch  807 . The output from the column amplifier is fed back to the pixels via another column feedback bus line  809 , which is connected to pixel capacitors  805 . The column amplifier block  806  also contains two references Vref 1   812 , and Vref 2   811 , that separate the addressed line SF outputs from the SF outputs of lines that are not addressed. The FD nodes of the un-addressed lines are biased to a higher level than the FD nodes of the addressed line. 
         [0028]    The operation of the circuit is described in a circuit timing diagram  900  shown in  FIG. 9 . Trace  901  corresponds to the command signal sent to all the reset switches of un-addressed lines thereby turning them off when the bias is low. This essentially defines the pixel reset interval of the addressed line. During this time the feedback switch of column amplifier block  806  is turned on which changes the bias on column line  813  from the Vref 1  to a voltage corresponding to an empty FD charge detection node. This resets the FD node to a voltage corresponding to reference  811  Vref 2 . During this interval, the reset transistor of the selected line is also turned off as indicated by the signal on command line  903  in the figure. The pixels of the selected row are now ready to receive charge, but before this occurs the reset transistors of the un-addressed lines are turned back on to make sure that the FD nodes of all the un-addressed lines are kept high biased to the Vref 1   812 . This turns off the p-channel JFET SF transistors that are connected to the same column signal line  810 . 
         [0029]    After the transients settle down, the amplifier output may be sampled at time  904 . After that the JG is ready to be pulsed negative as shown by the signal on the command line  906 , which transfers charge from the JGP onto the FD and the desired signal appears on the column signal line. This signal is sampled at time  905 . The difference between the signals at sampling points  904  and  905  is the true output of the pixel. This method of sensing the difference is called the correlated double sampling (CDS) operation and has an advantage of removing kTC noise and various other pixel threshold non-uniformities from the signal. 
         [0030]    An advantage of the concept described in this patent disclosure is that the CDS is incorporated into a circuit that includes the feedback amplifier and at the same time provides the row selection function without adding any other circuit components into the pixel except for a small feedback capacitor. The negative feedback directly into the pixel charge detection node is minimizing the FD voltage swing, thus allowing a larger voltage margin for the well capacity and a larger voltage separation between the transistors in the addressed and un-addressed rows. 
         [0031]    Additional benefits are improved linearity, higher conversion gain, lower noise, and a wider DR. The feedback capacitor can be made small and precise which improves the pixel to pixel uniformity and achieves large conversion gains independent of the parameter variations of other circuit components. 
         [0032]    It is noted that the column amplifier and the feedback capacitor may be optional. In another embodiment, the JGP pixel may be configured without feedback capacitor  805  and/or column amplifier  808 . The pixel value, in this embodiment, would be output directly to the column line from JFET  804 , and then sampled. 
         [0033]    It is also noted that the light impinging on the JGP pixels may be filtered by a color filter array (CFA). For example, a Bayer patterned CFA may be implemented to filter the 4 JGPs shown in  FIG. 8 . 
         [0034]    It is also noted that various control voltages for controlling the JGP, and the imager in general, (e.g. reset control voltage, integration control voltage, readout control voltage, etc.) may be generated and applied by a controller (e.g. Micro-processor) that is not shown in the figures. 
         [0035]    Although the invention is illustrated and described herein with reference to specific embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6