Appeal No. 2002-0578
Application No. 09/190,055
APPEALED SUBJECT MATTER
The subject matter on appeal is directed toward a CMOS imaging device and its use in
generating output signals corresponding to an image focused on a sensor array. The output
signal is generated by transferring charge from a floating diffusion region of an activated sensor
to an output transistor. The charge is transferred via a buried conductor that forms the output
transistor and an interconnect portion that “extends over and is formed in contact with” a field
oxide that separates the output transistor from the floating diffusion region. Additional details of
the claimed subject matter are provided in representative claims 18 and 31 reproduced below:
18. An imagining device comprising:
a semiconductor integrated circuit substrate;
a photosensitive device formed on said substrate for accumulating
photo-generated charge in an underlying region of said substrate;
a floating diffusion region in said substrate for receiving said
photo-generated charge;
a readout circuit comprising at least an output transistor formed in said substrate;
and
said floating diffusion region being connected to said output transistor via an
interconnect portion that extends over and is formed in contact with a field oxide located
between said floating diffusion region and said output transistor.
31. A method for generating output signals corresponding to an image focused
on a sensor array having rows and columns of pixel sensors, the method comprising:
sequentially activating each row of sensors of said array for a period of time;
resetting the voltage of a node of an activated sensor to a first predetermined
voltage by a reset transistor;
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