PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15927594
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-03
Publication Date: 2018-09
Patent Classification: ["257", "291000"]

Abstract:
An image sensor includes a substrate having a first surface and a second surface. The substrate includes a photo-sensitive region and a connection region. The image sensor also includes a buffer layer formed on the first surface of the substrate in the photo-sensitive region, and a metal grid formed on the buffer layer and including a plurality of staggered metal wires. The metal grid is connected to an operation voltage, and a plurality of trenches are formed in the metal grid with each trench surrounded by the metal wires. The image sensor further includes a plurality of color filters formed in the plurality of trenches of the metal grid. The metal grid induces charges in the substrate to prevent recombination between the charges generated by photo-sensitive components and the defects in the substrate. As such, the dark current is reduced, and the performance of the image sensor is improved.

Claim (Index 13):
The method for fabricating the image sensor according to  claim 12 , wherein the substrate includes a transparent region and a shading region in the photo-sensitive region, a device layer formed on the second surface of the substrate, and a metal layer and a connection plug connected to the metal layer formed in the device layer of the connection region, and prior to forming the color filters, the fabrication methods also includes:\n forming a dielectric layer on the first surface of the substrate; forming a first opening in the dielectric layer of the shading region, wherein a portion of the metal grid is exposed on a bottom of the first opening; forming a second opening in the dielectric layer of the connection region and the substrate of the connection region, wherein the second opening is formed through the dielectric layer and the substrate to expose the device layer; forming a third opening in the device layer on a bottom of the second opening, wherein a portion of the metal layer in the connection region is exposed on a bottom of the third opening; forming a soldering pad on the device layer on the bottom of the second opening; forming a connection wire on the dielectric layer and bottom and sidewall surfaces of the first opening, the second opening, and the third opening to connect the soldering pad, wherein the connection wire and the soldering pad together form a connection structure; and removing a portion of the dielectric layer formed in the transparent region, wherein a remaining portion of the dielectric layer formed on the first surface of the substrate in the shading region and the connection region becomes a dielectric structure.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 2.0
- Percentile: 90.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.58065
- Patent Class: 257.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: none
- Component Type: 0
- Foreign Priority: True
- Related Applications: ['13831469', '13458827', '14685123', '13476717', '12127031']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.9176527586229464
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4834705011678337
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8742345328774352
- Mean Citation Score: 167.00146
- Max Citation Score: 175.35028
- Similarity Product: 122.86084187224388

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test