Patent ID: 8030114

Claim:
A method for fabricating an image sensor, comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate having a pixel region and a periphery region; forming an isolation feature between the pixel region and the periphery region; forming a light sensing element in the pixel region; and forming at least one transistor in the pixel region and at least one transistor in the periphery region; wherein forming the at least one transistor in the pixel region and the at least one transistor in the periphery region comprises: forming a gate electrode in the pixel region and periphery region; depositing a dielectric layer over the pixel region and periphery region; partially etching the dielectric layer to form sidewall spacers on the gate electrode wherein a portion of the dielectric layer remains overlying the pixel region; partially etching the remaining portion of the dielectric layer to remove a portion of the dielectric layer overlying the gate electrode in the pixel region while leaving a portion of the dielectric layer overlying the light sensing element; and forming source/drain (S/D) regions by ion implantation.