WO1986003058A1 - A solid state light sensing device - Google Patents
A solid state light sensing device Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1986003058A1 WO1986003058A1 PCT/US1985/002070 US8502070W WO8603058A1 WO 1986003058 A1 WO1986003058 A1 WO 1986003058A1 US 8502070 W US8502070 W US 8502070W WO 8603058 A1 WO8603058 A1 WO 8603058A1
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- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- charge
- light
- region
- drain region
- charge generating
- Prior art date
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- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 title claims abstract description 10
- 230000004888 barrier function Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 11
- 238000012546 transfer Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 5
- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 claims description 3
- 230000008859 change Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 239000000758 substrate Substances 0.000 abstract description 16
- 238000001514 detection method Methods 0.000 abstract description 7
- 239000002800 charge carrier Substances 0.000 abstract 1
- XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicon Chemical compound [Si] XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 3
- 229910052710 silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 3
- 239000010703 silicon Substances 0.000 description 3
- VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicium dioxide Chemical compound O=[Si]=O VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 230000008901 benefit Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000007423 decrease Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000003990 capacitor Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000000969 carrier Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000001276 controlling effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000009792 diffusion process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000009826 distribution Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000005286 illumination Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000003384 imaging method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000010348 incorporation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000010354 integration Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000000873 masking effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000012806 monitoring device Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000012544 monitoring process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000003287 optical effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000010791 quenching Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000000171 quenching effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001105 regulatory effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 235000012239 silicon dioxide Nutrition 0.000 description 1
- 239000000377 silicon dioxide Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000003860 storage Methods 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
- H01L27/14—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation
- H01L27/144—Devices controlled by radiation
- H01L27/146—Imager structures
- H01L27/14643—Photodiode arrays; MOS imagers
- H01L27/14654—Blooming suppression
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
- H01L31/08—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof in which radiation controls flow of current through the device, e.g. photoresistors
- H01L31/10—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof in which radiation controls flow of current through the device, e.g. photoresistors characterised by at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. phototransistors
- H01L31/101—Devices sensitive to infrared, visible or ultraviolet radiation
- H01L31/112—Devices sensitive to infrared, visible or ultraviolet radiation characterised by field-effect operation, e.g. junction field-effect phototransistor
- H01L31/113—Devices sensitive to infrared, visible or ultraviolet radiation characterised by field-effect operation, e.g. junction field-effect phototransistor being of the conductor-insulator-semiconductor type, e.g. metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistor
- H01L31/1136—Devices sensitive to infrared, visible or ultraviolet radiation characterised by field-effect operation, e.g. junction field-effect phototransistor being of the conductor-insulator-semiconductor type, e.g. metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistor the device being a metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistor
Definitions
- This invention relates to a solid state light sensing device that is sensitive to localized light intensity conditions.
- U.S. Patent No. 4,420,773 describes a charge coupled imaging device (CCD) which is utilized for exposure control.
- the CCD functions as a "photocell” in a conventional manner.
- U.S. Patents 3,945,732 and 4,285,583 disclose a device having a plurality of photocells or other photoconductive elements, which are arranged to respond to light reflected from separate portions of a scene. Each of the photocells is used to detect a portion of the scene having maximum or minimum brightness. These devices are relatively complex, however, because they require additional circuitry to integrate the output of each light-sensitive element. Furthermore, a device which utilizes discrete photoconductive elements is limited in resolution and therefore is restricted in its ability to distinguish light reflected from one portion of a scene from light reflected from other portions of a scene.
- an object of the invention is to provide a light sensing device of simple design and compact unitary structure for detecting localized exposure conditions with high resolution.
- a solid state light sensing device comprising a semiconductive substrate having a light-sensitive charge generating region for accumulating a charge related to the duration and intensity of incident light, and a charge drain region for receiving charge from the charge generating region.
- a gate electrode overlaying the substrate between both regions, is arranged to receive an applied voltage of a polarity for creating an energy barrier between the generating region and the drain region.
- the energy barrier prevents the transfer of charge from the charge generating region to the drain region until the charge in the charge generating region reaches a predetermined threshold level.
- Detector circuitry responsive to the charge received by the drain region, produces an output signal indicating that a predetermined amount of light has impinged on the charge generating region.
- the photo-responsive portion of the light sensing device of the invention is similar to apparatus used in controlling so-called "blooming" in CCD imagers.
- the detector circuitry for detecting the transfer of charge to the drain region, produces a signal which is utilized to regulate an exposure. The amount of exposure is controlled by varying the voltage applied to the gate.
- Fig. 1 is a top view of a light sensing device in accordance with the invention
- Fig. 2 is a simplified cross-section taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;
- Fig. 3 is a series of potential profiles illustrating accumulated charge within the light sensing device during various phases of an exposure interval
- Fig. 4 illustrates surface potential of a charge generation region of the device
- Fig. 5 is a schematic illustration of an output signal detection circuit, and current and voltage waveforms associated with the detection circuit.
- Fig. 6 depicts a series of potential profiles during various phases relating to the resetting of the light sensing device.
- light sensitive charge generation region is used throughout this specification to indicate a region of a photo-charge generating semiconductor device which generates photo-charge when exposed to incident light.
- Two common photo charge. generating devices are the photodiode and MOS photocapacitor.
- a solid state light sensing device 10 in accordance with the invention comprises a P-type silicon substrate 12 on which is formed an insulating layer 14, such as silicon dioxide, and parallel columns of electrically conductive gate electrodes 18 overlaying the layer 14.
- the device 10 further comprises a plurality of light sensitive charge generating regions 16 integrated within the substrate 12, a detection circuit 17, and parallel columns of N+ charge drain regions 20, which are also integrated within the substrate 12.
- a row and column array of N-type regions 22 (Fig. 2) and the columns of N+ drain regions 20 are fabricated in the substrate 12 by standard integrated circuit fabrication techniques such as masking and diffusion.
- the regions 22 and the underlying substrate 12 form an array of PN junction photodiodes, each of which corresponds to a charge generation region 16. Because the substrate 12 is connected to ground, when positive voltage is applied to the N regions 22 each photodiode is reverse biased.
- the gate electrodes 18 are formed over the insulating layer 14 between each column of photodiodes and each drain region 20. Both the gate electrodes 18 and the insulating layer 14 are formed by procedures well known in the art. As is shown in Fig. 1, all of the gate columns 18 are electrically connected to one another, as are all of the drain regions 20. Each photodiode and its adjacent gate electrode 18 and drain region 20 form a light sensing element 24, as shown by the dotted lines of Fig. 1.
- the insulating layer 14 must be transparent to incident light. Because the silicon substrate 12 is optically sensitive, an optical shield (not shown) covers all of the top surface of the device 10 except for the charge generating regions 16. From the above disclosure, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the light sensitive elements 24 of the device 10 can be integrated within a single integrated circuit chip, to form a unitary array of light sensitive elements.
- the surface potential of a solid state device may be represented by a profile within its semiconductive substrate, with the depth of the profile being proportional to the magnitude of the potential at the corresponding portion of the substrate surface.
- Fig. 3(a) illustrates such a profile for a light sensing element 24, with the positive direction of potential being down.
- a previously applied reset pulse to be disclosed in detail later, has set the potential, V N , of the N region 22 to a predetermined level that is equal to the potential, V n , of the drain region 20.
- a voltage V G applied to the gate electrode 18 produces an energy barrier which prevents carriers from flowing between the photodiode and drain region 20.
- Incident light generates hole-electron pairs in the photodiode at a rate proportional to the localized light intensity.
- the PN junction of the photodiode is reverse biased, photogenerated electrons are collected in the N region 22, as shown in Fig. 3(b).
- the potential V N decreases toward zero, as shown in Fig. 3(b) and 4(a). As more electrons are collected, V N decreases further until at time t 2 , shown in Figs.
- V N approximately equals O G .
- t 2 can be related to a desired exposure threshold.
- the desired exposure is the same for all light sensing elements 24 and is the threshold exposure at which an output signal is generated.
- V D and V G For any given set of values for V D and V G , it can be determined how much electron charge must be collected by the N region 22 to reduce V N to O G and thereby initiate current flow. Because the electron charge is photogenerated, it is approximately proportional to the desired exposure threshold; thus, for each set of values for V and V G , both the electron charge, which must be collected, and the desired exposure threshold, can be determined.
- the exposure threshold equals the localized light intensity multiplied by t 2 .
- localized light intensity can be determined by measuring t 2 .
- the exposure threshold can be easily regulated by varying V G or V D .
- FIG. 5(a) A preferred embodiment of a detection circuit 17 is shown in Fig. 5(a).
- the circuit 17 includes a current sensing resistor R s serially connected between the drain region 20 of the device 10 and a voltage source 28.
- the resistor R s is also connected across the input terminals of an operational amplifier 30, which is arranged as a differentiator; thus, the output of the amplifier 30 is proportional to the rate of change of the voltage across the resistor R s .
- a corresponding output pulse, shovm in Fig. 5(c), is produced at the output of the amplifier 30.
- a particular advantage of the circuit 17 is that it can be monolithically integrated in silicon and therefore can be fabricated in integrated form for incorporation on the same chip with the device 10.
- Fig. 6 illustrates the sequence occurring during a reset interval. At t equal to t 3 , the previous integration has just ended. The voltage on the gate electrode 18 is then increased so that the surface potential O G under the gate electrode is
- the device 10 may be used as a light monitoring device in a photographic camera for determining prior to an exposure whether any localized scene light intensity is above or below a given level. For example, the device 10 may be used to switch a camera automatically into a flash exposure mode when scene light intensity is low. The device 10 may also be used in real time to control the closing of a camera shutter or to control the quenching of an electronic flash apparatus, in photographic apparatus where exposure control is based on a statistical relationship between localized peak exposure and an optimum exposure of the entire scene.
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- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Power Engineering (AREA)
- Electromagnetism (AREA)
- Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
- Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
- Solid State Image Pick-Up Elements (AREA)
- Transforming Light Signals Into Electric Signals (AREA)
Abstract
A solid state light sensing device (10) comprises an array of light sensing elements (24). Each element (24) comprises a gate electrode (18) between a charge generating region (16) and a charge drain region (20), which are integrated within a semiconductive substrate (12). For each element (24), an energy barrier is formed within the substrate (12) between the two regions (16, 20) in accordance with the magnitude of a voltage applied to the gate electrode (18). When light impinges on the device (10), charge carriers accumulate in each charge generating region (16) at a rate that is proportional to the intensity of impinging light. When the charge accumulated in a generating region (16) reaches a predetermined threshold established by the energy barrier, charge transfers from the generating region to the drain region (20). A detection circuit (17), coupled to the drain region (20) and responsive to the charge received by the drain region, produces an output signal indicating that a predetermined amount of light has impinged on the corresponding charge generating region (16).
Description
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
A SOLID STATE LIGHT SENSING DEVICE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention This invention relates to a solid state light sensing device that is sensitive to localized light intensity conditions.
2. Description Relative To The Prior Art
It is known in the prior art to regulate an exposure operation using a light sensitive device. For example, there are many variations of a storage type exposure control system, which utilize a photocell to charge a capacitor. When the charge reaches a predetermined level, the exposure is terminated.
U.S. Patent No. 4,420,773 describes a charge coupled imaging device (CCD) which is utilized for exposure control. In this system, the CCD functions as a "photocell" in a conventional manner.
While the above-described systems serve their intended purpose, they are limited to measuring the average intensity of reflected scene light. When an exposure is controlled according to average scene brightness, objects which reflect an amount of illumination that is greater than the average intensity are overexposed.
U.S. Patents 3,945,732 and 4,285,583 disclose a device having a plurality of photocells or other photoconductive elements, which are arranged to respond to light reflected from separate portions of a scene. Each of the photocells is used to detect a portion of the scene having maximum or minimum brightness. These devices are relatively complex, however, because they require additional
circuitry to integrate the output of each light-sensitive element. Furthermore, a device which utilizes discrete photoconductive elements is limited in resolution and therefore is restricted in its ability to distinguish light reflected from one portion of a scene from light reflected from other portions of a scene.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to provide a light sensing device of simple design and compact unitary structure for detecting localized exposure conditions with high resolution.
The object of the invention is achieved by a solid state light sensing device comprising a semiconductive substrate having a light-sensitive charge generating region for accumulating a charge related to the duration and intensity of incident light, and a charge drain region for receiving charge from the charge generating region. A gate electrode, overlaying the substrate between both regions, is arranged to receive an applied voltage of a polarity for creating an energy barrier between the generating region and the drain region. The energy barrier prevents the transfer of charge from the charge generating region to the drain region until the charge in the charge generating region reaches a predetermined threshold level. Detector circuitry, responsive to the charge received by the drain region, produces an output signal indicating that a predetermined amount of light has impinged on the charge generating region.
The photo-responsive portion of the light sensing device of the invention is similar to apparatus used in controlling so-called "blooming"
in CCD imagers. In accordance with the invention, however, the detector circuitry, for detecting the transfer of charge to the drain region, produces a signal which is utilized to regulate an exposure. The amount of exposure is controlled by varying the voltage applied to the gate. These and other advantages of the invention will become apparent in the detailed description of a preferred embodiment presented below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a top view of a light sensing device in accordance with the invention;
Fig. 2 is a simplified cross-section taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a series of potential profiles illustrating accumulated charge within the light sensing device during various phases of an exposure interval;
Fig. 4 illustrates surface potential of a charge generation region of the device;
Fig. 5 is a schematic illustration of an output signal detection circuit, and current and voltage waveforms associated with the detection circuit; and
Fig. 6 depicts a series of potential profiles during various phases relating to the resetting of the light sensing device.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The term "light sensitive charge generation region" is used throughout this specification to indicate a region of a photo-charge generating semiconductor device which generates photo-charge
when exposed to incident light. Two common photo charge. generating devices are the photodiode and MOS photocapacitor.
Referring to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 of the drawings, a solid state light sensing device 10 in accordance with the invention comprises a P-type silicon substrate 12 on which is formed an insulating layer 14, such as silicon dioxide, and parallel columns of electrically conductive gate electrodes 18 overlaying the layer 14. The device 10 further comprises a plurality of light sensitive charge generating regions 16 integrated within the substrate 12, a detection circuit 17, and parallel columns of N+ charge drain regions 20, which are also integrated within the substrate 12.
In the disclosed embodiment, a row and column array of N-type regions 22 (Fig. 2) and the columns of N+ drain regions 20 are fabricated in the substrate 12 by standard integrated circuit fabrication techniques such as masking and diffusion. The regions 22 and the underlying substrate 12 form an array of PN junction photodiodes, each of which corresponds to a charge generation region 16. Because the substrate 12 is connected to ground, when positive voltage is applied to the N regions 22 each photodiode is reverse biased.
The gate electrodes 18 are formed over the insulating layer 14 between each column of photodiodes and each drain region 20. Both the gate electrodes 18 and the insulating layer 14 are formed by procedures well known in the art. As is shown in Fig. 1, all of the gate columns 18 are electrically connected to one another, as are all of the drain regions 20. Each photodiode and its adjacent gate
electrode 18 and drain region 20 form a light sensing element 24, as shown by the dotted lines of Fig. 1.
The insulating layer 14 must be transparent to incident light. Because the silicon substrate 12 is optically sensitive, an optical shield (not shown) covers all of the top surface of the device 10 except for the charge generating regions 16. From the above disclosure, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the light sensitive elements 24 of the device 10 can be integrated within a single integrated circuit chip, to form a unitary array of light sensitive elements. The surface potential of a solid state device may be represented by a profile within its semiconductive substrate, with the depth of the profile being proportional to the magnitude of the potential at the corresponding portion of the substrate surface. Fig. 3(a) illustrates such a profile for a light sensing element 24, with the positive direction of potential being down. In this case, a previously applied reset pulse, to be disclosed in detail later, has set the potential, VN, of the N region 22 to a predetermined level that is equal to the potential, Vn, of the drain region 20.
As is known in the semiconductor art, variations in surface potential can produce, within a semiconductive substrate, an energy barrier which prevents charge from migrating to other portions of the substrate. In particular, when the surface potential under the gate electrode 18, i.e. OG, is less than the surface potential VN of the N region 22 of the photodiode, as shown in Fig. 3(a), there
is an energy barrier that prevents electrons accumulated in the N region 22 from transferring to the corresponding drain region 20.
At the beginning of an exposure interval, i.e. at tO, a voltage VG applied to the gate electrode 18 produces an energy barrier which prevents carriers from flowing between the photodiode and drain region 20. Incident light generates hole-electron pairs in the photodiode at a rate proportional to the localized light intensity. Because the PN junction of the photodiode is reverse biased, photogenerated electrons are collected in the N region 22, as shown in Fig. 3(b). As exposure time increases and the electrons accumulate there, the potential VN decreases toward zero, as shown in Fig. 3(b) and 4(a). As more electrons are collected, VN decreases further until at time t2, shown in Figs. 3(c) and 4(a), VN approximately equals OG. When this occurs, there are electrons with sufficient energy to surmount the barrier under the gate electrode 18. These electrons flow from the N region 22 to the drain region 20; consequently, VN remains constant during the remainder of an exposure interval as charge is transferred to the drain region 20. The electron flow gives rise to a sharp increase in a current I into the drain region 20. This increase in current, shown in Fig. 4(b), is detected by the detection circuit 17. For each light sensing element 24 of the array, t2 can be related to a desired exposure threshold. In a preferred embodiment, the desired exposure is the same for all light sensing elements 24 and is the threshold exposure at which an output signal is generated.
For any given set of values for VD and VG, it can be determined how much electron charge must be collected by the N region 22 to reduce VN to OG and thereby initiate current flow. Because the electron charge is photogenerated, it is approximately proportional to the desired exposure threshold; thus, for each set of values for V and VG, both the electron charge, which must be collected, and the desired exposure threshold, can be determined.
Because the exposure threshold equals the localized light intensity multiplied by t2 , localized light intensity can be determined by measuring t2. For each element 24 in the array, there will be a sharp increase in current at time t2, in accordance with the corresponding light intensity. Peak localized light intensity results in the smallest t2, so that peak detection can be performed by monitoring only the first increase in current. Subsequent increases in the current, as each element reaches the threshold level, could be monitored to determine the distribution of the localized intensities. It should also be noted that the exposure threshold can be easily regulated by varying VG or VD.
A preferred embodiment of a detection circuit 17 is shown in Fig. 5(a). The circuit 17 includes a current sensing resistor Rs serially connected between the drain region 20 of the device 10 and a voltage source 28. The resistor Rs is also connected across the input terminals of an operational amplifier 30, which is arranged as a differentiator; thus, the output of the amplifier 30 is proportional to the rate of change of the voltage across the resistor Rs. When an increase in I
occurs from the flow of charge into a drain region
20, shown in Fig. 5(b), a corresponding output pulse, shovm in Fig. 5(c), is produced at the output of the amplifier 30. A particular advantage of the circuit 17 is that it can be monolithically integrated in silicon and therefore can be fabricated in integrated form for incorporation on the same chip with the device 10.
Fig. 6 illustrates the sequence occurring during a reset interval. At t equal to t3, the previous integration has just ended. The voltage on the gate electrode 18 is then increased so that the surface potential OG under the gate electrode is
"pinned" to approximately VD, as shown in Fig. 6(b). This allows the residual charge in the N region 22 to flow to the drain region 20. This continues until the potential VN equals VD. The voltage on the gate electrode 18 is then returned to VG and the surface potential under the gate electrode 18 returns to its original value. The device 10 is now ready for the next exposure. ADVANTAGEOUS TECHNICAL EFFECT From the foregoing it is apparent that a new solid state light sensing device has been disclosed of simple design and compact circuitry structure which is advantageous from the standpoint of detecting localized exposure conditions with high resolution.
The device 10 may be used as a light monitoring device in a photographic camera for determining prior to an exposure whether any localized scene light intensity is above or below a given level. For example, the device 10 may be used to switch a camera automatically into a flash exposure mode when scene light intensity is low.
The device 10 may also be used in real time to control the closing of a camera shutter or to control the quenching of an electronic flash apparatus, in photographic apparatus where exposure control is based on a statistical relationship between localized peak exposure and an optimum exposure of the entire scene.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that other structures are possible, such as an N-substrate with NP photodiodes and P+ drain or an array with MOS photocapacitors replacing the NP photodiodes. In such an array the photocapacitor gates would be common.
Claims
1. A solid state light sensing device comprising:
(a) a light sensitive charge generating region for accumulating a charge related to the duration and intensity of incident light;
(b) a charge drain region for receiving charge from said light sensitive generating region;
(c) an electrically conductive gate electrode arranged for receiving an applied voltage of a polarity for producing an energy barrier between said charge generating region and said charge drain region, the energy barrier preventing the transfer of charge from said charge generating region to said charge drain region until the charge in said charge generating region reaches a predetermined threshold level; and
(d) detector means, responsive to the charge received by said drain region, for producing a signal indicating that a predetermined amount of light has impinged on said charge generating region.
2. A light sensing device as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the voltage of said gate electrode is variable to change the threshold level.
3. A solid state light sensing device for detecting localized intensity of light reflected from a scene, said light sensing device comprising: (a) a semiconductor device having:
(i) an array of charge generating regions arranged in rows and columns for accumulating a charge corresponding to the duration and intensity of the light incident to each charge generating region;
(ii) a column-long gate electrode arranged adjacent each column of said generating regions for receiving an applied voltage of a polarity for producing an energy barrier that prevents the transfer of charge from each of said charge generating regions until the corresponding charge accumulated reaches a predetermined threshold level related to the applied voltage;
(iii) a column-long charge drain region adjacent each of said gate electrodes for receiving the charge transferred from each of said charge generating regions when the corresponding charge accumulated reaches the predetermined threshold level; and
(b) detector means, responsive to the charge received by said drain regions, for producing an output signal indicating that a predetermined amount of localized light has impinged on at least one of said charge generating regions.
4. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 3 wherein the voltage of said gate electrode is variable to set the threshold level at a level related to a desired exposure level.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US67071984A | 1984-11-13 | 1984-11-13 | |
US670,719 | 1984-11-13 |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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WO1986003058A1 true WO1986003058A1 (en) | 1986-05-22 |
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Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
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PCT/US1985/002070 WO1986003058A1 (en) | 1984-11-13 | 1985-10-24 | A solid state light sensing device |
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Citations (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB2102201A (en) * | 1981-07-10 | 1983-01-26 | Philips Nv | Radiation detection apparatus |
EP0164464A1 (en) * | 1982-05-03 | 1985-12-18 | Dalsa Inc. | Integrable large dynamic range photodetector element for linear and area integrated circuit imaging arrays |
-
1985
- 1985-10-24 WO PCT/US1985/002070 patent/WO1986003058A1/en unknown
Patent Citations (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB2102201A (en) * | 1981-07-10 | 1983-01-26 | Philips Nv | Radiation detection apparatus |
EP0164464A1 (en) * | 1982-05-03 | 1985-12-18 | Dalsa Inc. | Integrable large dynamic range photodetector element for linear and area integrated circuit imaging arrays |
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