Patent ID: 7586172

Claim:
An integrated circuit comprising at least one cell that includes a photodiode able to control blooming effects, wherein the photodiode comprises an upper layer, p_doped, over an intermediate layer, n_doped, over a portion of a semiconductor substrate, p_doped, wherein the upper layer is more highly doped than the intermediate layer, wherein the maximum storage of charges in the intermediate layer is determined by a forward bias voltage between the upper layer and the intermediate layer, enabling the photodiode to control blooming effects by itself, wherein the at least one cell includes control means for controlling transfer of charges from the photodiode to an output of the at least one cell, the control means including a transfer transistor, the transfer transistor being a MOS transistor having a source that is also the intermediate layer of the photodiode, and wherein the photodiode is a fully depleted photodiode that self-biases at a defined voltage when a concentration of electrons in the intermediate layer becomes nearly zero after the transfer of charges from the photodiode to the output of the at least one cell.