Method of forming a complementary active pixel sensor cell
US6194702A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 13, 1999 |
| Grant date | Feb 27, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 13, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH10F77/14
Abstract
The present invention is a complementary active pixel sensor cell and method of making and using the same. The complementary active pixel sensor cell approximately doubles the available signal for a given quanta of light. The device of the present invention utilizes the holes produced by impinging photons in a complementary active pixel sensor cell circuit. Two active pixel sensor cell circuits, an NFET circuit and complementary PFET circuit are created for use with a photodiode. The NFET circuit captures electron current. The PFET circuit captures hole current. The sum of the currents is approximately double that of conventional active pixel sensor circuits using similarly sized photodiode regions.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.