Semiconductor device manufacturing: process – Making device or circuit responsive to nonelectrical signal – Responsive to electromagnetic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-29
2004-09-21
Nelms, David (Department: 2818)
Semiconductor device manufacturing: process
Making device or circuit responsive to nonelectrical signal
Responsive to electromagnetic radiation
C438S059000, C438S073000, C438S078000, C257S232000, C257S233000, C257S292000, C372S050121
Reexamination Certificate
active
06794214
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
Certain applications require measuring aspects that are based on the speed of light.
For example, range finding can be carried out using optics. An optical signal is sent. The reflection therefrom is received. The time that it takes to receive the reflection of the optical signal gives an indication of the distance.
The so called lock-in technique uses an encoded temporal pattern as a signal reference. The device locks into the received signal to find the time of receipt. However, noise can mask the temporal pattern.
A lock in photodetector based on charged coupled devices or CCDs has been described in Miagawa and Kanada “CCD based range finding sensor” IEEE Transactions on Electronic Devices, volume 44 pages 1648-1652 1997.
CCDs are well known to have relatively large power consumption.
SUMMARY
The present application describes a special kind of lock in detector formed using CMOS technology. More specifically, a lock in detector is formed from a pinned photodiode. The photodiode is modified to enable faster operation.
It is advantageous to obtain as much readout as possible to maximize the signal to noise ratio. The pinned photodiode provides virtually complete charge transfer readout.
Fast separation of the photo-generated carriers is obtained by separating the diode into smaller sub-parts and summing the output values of the subparts to obtain an increased composite signal.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5043568 (1991-08-01), Tsuchiya et al.
patent: 5099694 (1992-03-01), Sumio et al.
patent: 5179565 (1993-01-01), Tsuchiya et al.
patent: 5497390 (1996-03-01), Tanaka et al.
patent: 5880495 (1999-03-01), Chen
patent: 6100551 (2000-08-01), Lee et al.
patent: 6127697 (2000-10-01), Guidash
Berezin Vladimir
Fossum Eric R.
Krymski Alexander
Dickstein , Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky, LLP
Micro)n Technology, Inc.
Nelms David
Nguyen Dao H.
LandOfFree
Lock in pinned photodiode photodetector does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Lock in pinned photodiode photodetector, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Lock in pinned photodiode photodetector will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3225249