Patent ID: 8258558

Claim:
An image sensor comprising: a semiconductor substrate including a readout circuit formed for each pixel; an interlayer insulation layer on the semiconductor substrate; a first metal line and a second metal line electrically connected to respective readout circuits on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the first metal line is disposed at a first pixel and the second metal line is disposed at a second pixel adjacent the first pixel, the first metal line and the second metal line being adjacent a boundary region between the first pixel and the second pixel; an image detection unit on the interlayer insulation layer and including stacked first and second doping layers; a pixel separation unit penetrating the image detection unit to separate the image detection unit according to each pixel; a first metal contact for the first pixel and a second metal contact for the second pixel penetrating the image detection unit and the interlayer insulation layer at sides of the pixel separation unit, the first metal contact and the second metal contact being electrically connected to the first and second metal lines, respectively; a first barrier pattern at an upper sidewall of each of the first and second metal contacts to spatially isolate the first and second metal contacts from the second doping layer while exposing the first and second metal contacts to the first doping layer; a second barrier pattern for the first pixel and a third barrier pattern for the second pixel on the first and second metal contacts, respectively; and a third metal contact formed in a trench above the first and second metal contacts to be electrically connected to the second doping layer of the image detection unit separated into at least the first pixel and the second pixel by the pixel separation unit, while being spatially isolated from the first and second metal contacts by the second and third barrier patterns, wherein the first metal contact and the first barrier pattern at the upper sidewall of the first metal contact are disposed in a via hole through the image detection unit.