Multispectral imaging device and manufacturing method thereof
10249662 ยท 2019-04-02
Inventors
Cpc classification
H01L31/103
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/02164
ELECTRICITY
Y02E10/547
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
Y02P70/50
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
H01L31/202
ELECTRICITY
H01L27/14692
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/1013
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/02162
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/028
ELECTRICITY
Y02E10/548
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
H01L27/14647
ELECTRICITY
International classification
H01L31/062
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/20
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
The present disclosure provides a multispectral imaging device, comprising the following layers and components arranged in sequence following a direction of incident light: a color filter layer, comprising a plurality of color filters transparent for specific wavebands; a first transparent electrode layer continuously formed in imaging area; a first conversion layer continuously formed in imaging area to convert visible light to electric signals; a first flat topography comprising plurality of pixel electrodes and with surface roughness less than 5 nm; a second conversion layer to convert NIR light to electric signals; and circuit components to process the electric signals. Benefit from the first continuous conversion layer formed on the flat topography, high light utilization, low spectral cross-talk, low dark current are achieved in the multispectral imaging device.
Claims
1. A multispectral imaging device, comprising the following layers and components arranged along a direction of incident light: a color filter layer, comprising an array of color filters transparent selectively to specific wavebands; a first transparent electrode layer, transparent for visible light and NIR light; a first conversion layer, to convert visible light to electric signals, formed by an a-SiH layer lightly doped of P type; a first continuous surface, formed by a second transparent electrode layer and a first insulating film, wherein said second transparent electrode layer comprising a plurality of pixel electrodes, collecting the electric signals of visible light and transparent for NIR light, said first insulating film arranged between said pixel electrodes, said first conversion layer arranged between said first transparent electrode layer and said first continuous surface and covering said first continuous surface continuously; a second conversion layer, to convert NIR light to electric signals; and circuit components, to respectively process the electric signals from said first conversion layer and said second conversion layer.
2. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 1, wherein, said first continuous surface is at least polished with a CMP process to have a surface roughness less than 5 nm, and processed by heating with a temperature above 300 degree centigrade.
3. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising an interlayer, which is transparent and conductive arranged between said pixel electrode array and said second conversion layer, to shield electric field between said first conversion layer and said second conversion layer, wherein NIR light transmittance of said interlayer is larger than 60%.
4. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 3, wherein, a projection of said interlayer covers more than 80% of an area of said pixel electrodes and more than 80% of an area of said second conversion layer.
5. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 1, wherein said first conversion layer comprises the following layers arranged along the direction of the incident light: a first electron blocking layer; a first buffer layer for electric field, formed by an a-SiH layer lightly doped of P type; a conversion layer formed by an a-SiH layer lightly doped of P type; a second buffer layer for electric field formed by an a-SiH layer lightly doped of N type; and a second hole blocking layer.
6. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 5, wherein each of said first electron blocking layer and said second electron blocking layer comprises an a-SiH or a-SiC film, a NiO film or a Sb2S3 film doped of P type, and has a thickness from 20 nm to 100 nm.
7. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 5, wherein each of said first hole blocking layer and said second hole blocking layer comprises an a-SiH or a-SiC film doped of N+ type, and has a thickness from 20 nm to 100 nm.
8. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 5, wherein each of said first hole blocking layer and said second hole blocking layer comprises an un-doped a-SiN or a-SiO2 film, and has a thickness from 5 nm to 50 nm.
9. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 5, wherein each of said first hole blocking layer and said second hole blocking layer comprises a layer formed by oxides of rare earth metal, and has a thickness from 5 nm to 50 nm.
10. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 5, wherein each of said first hole blocking layer and said second hole blocking layer comprises oxides of In, Ga, Zn, and has a thickness from 20 nm to 200 nm.
11. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 1, wherein said first conversion layer comprises the following layers arranged along the direction of the incident light: a first hole blocking layer; a first buffer layer for electric field, formed by an a-SiH layer lightly doped of N type; a conversion layer, formed by an a-SiH layer lightly doped of P type; a second buffer layer for electric field, formed by an a-SiH layer lightly doped of P type; and a second electron blocking layer.
12. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 1, wherein one of said first transparent electrode layer and said second transparent electrode layer arranged on both sides of said first conversion layer is used as a cathode applied with a lower potential, the other one is used as an anode applied with a higher potential, a work function of the cathode is larger than that of the anode.
13. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 12, wherein the cathode or the anode comprises indium tin oxides, and oxygen component of the cathode is higher than that of the anode.
14. The multispectral imaging device according to claim 1, wherein a gap between adjacent pixel electrodes on said first continuous surface is in a range of 0.5 um to 10 um.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) By reading the detailed description of nonrestrictive embodiment referring to the figures below, the other features, objects and advantages will be more apparent:
(2)
(3)
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(7) In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail referring to figures. The concept and its realizations of the present disclosure may be implemented in a plurality of forms, and should not be understood to be limited to the embodiments described hereafter. In contrary, these embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure more comprehensive and understandable, and so the conception of the embodiments may be conveyed to the person skilled in the art fully. Same reference numbers in the figures refer to same or similar structures, so repeated description of them will be omitted.
(8) The features, structures or characteristics described may be combined in any appropriate way in one or more embodiments. In the description below, many specific details are provided to explain the embodiments of the present disclosure fully. However, the person skilled in the art should realize that, without one or more of the specific details, or adopting other methods, components, materials etc., the technical approach of the present disclosure may still be realized. In certain conditions, structures, materials or operations well known are not shown or described in detail so as not to obfuscate the present disclosure.
(9)
(10) To overcome the drawbacks of existing technology, the present disclosure provides a multispectral imaging device, comprising the following layers and components arranged in sequence following a direction of incident light: a color filter layer comprising an array of a plurality of color filters selectively transparent for specific wavebands; a first transparent electrode layer, transparent for visible light and NIR light; a first conversion layer, to convert visible light into electric signals; a continuous surface with a surface roughness less than 5 nm, a second conversion layer, to convert NIR light electrode signals; and circuit components, processing the electric signals from the first conversion layer and the second conversion layer, respectively. The first continuous surface comprises a second transparent conductive layer and a first insulating film. The second transparent conductive comprises an array of a plurality of pixel electrodes transparent for NIR light and collecting the electric signals of visible light. The first insulating film is arranged between the pixel electrodes, and the first conversion layer covers continuously on the first continuous surface.
(11) Below each embodiment of the present disclosure is described referring to a plurality of figures.
(12)
(13) The color filter layer comprises a black matrix 231 and an array of a plurality of color filters 232 arranged in the apertures of the black matrix 231. The color filters 232 are selectively transparent for specific wavebands. In the embodiment, the color filters 232 can comprise a red filter, a blue filter and a green filter transparent for red, blue and green light, respectively. The color filters 232 can further transmit more than 50% of NIR light. The infrared light conversion layer 211 can be a hole depletion layer or an electron depletion layer formed in the silicon substrate 210. All or most of the conversion area of the infrared light conversion layer 211 is covered by the color filters 332 correspondingly.
(14) The visible light conversion layer 226228 comprises a first doped layer 226, a conversion layer 227 (e.g. an a-SiH film) to convert visible light photons to electrons and a second doped layer 228. The first doped layer 226 and the second doped layer 228 can be used as a hole blocking layer or an electron blocking layer. In the embodiment, the transmittance of the visible light conversion layer 226228 for NIR light is larger than 50%. The projection of the visible light conversion layer 226228 on the plane of the silicon substrate 210 covers the color filters 232 and the positions between the color filters 232. In other words, the visible light conversion layer 226228 is a continuous film on the plane of the silicon substrate 210, then no visible light 241 irradiating with a wide angle can pass through the gap of the visible light conversion layer 226228 and get to the silicon substrate 210. One role of the arrangement is to have less non-effective photoelectric signals converted from visible light. Another role is to have less interference from visible light image to infrared light image and to have a higher resolution of the multispectral imaging device.
(15) Shown in
(16) Shown in
(17) There is further a second electron blocking layer 52 arranged between the pixel electrode 51 of the second transparent electrode layer and the a-SiH layer 53. The second electron blocking layer 52 can be an a-SiH layer or an a-SiC layer doped of P+ type and with a thickness from 20 nm to 100 nm, or an un-doped insulating film such as an a-SiN layer or an a-SiO.sub.2 layer, with a thickness from 5 nm to 50 nm.
(18) There is further a first hole blocking layer 56 arranged between the first transparent electrode layer 57 and the a-SiH layer 55. The first hole blocking layer 56 can be a layer comprising oxides of rare earth metal, the thickness of the first hole blocking layer 56 ranges from 5 nm to 50 nm. The hole blocking layer 56 can be an a-SiH or an a-SiC film doped of N+ type and with a thickness from 20 nm to 100 nm, or an un-doped insulating film such as an a-SiN film or an a-SiO.sub.2 film, with a thickness from 5 nm to 50 nm. The first hole blocking layer can also be a layer comprising oxides of In, Ga, Zn, with a thickness from 20 nm to 100 nm.
(19) Specifically, when a semiconductor material with a wide band gap such as a semiconductor material comprising oxides of Sn, In, Ni, Ga etc., or a material such as a-SiC, a-SiN, a-SiO.sub.2 and etc. is used, the product value of the mobility and the lifetime of the holes is far smaller than that of the electrons, to have a blocking effect to the hole injection. Further, for an oxide of rare earth metal, the product value of the mobility and the lifetime of the holes is also far smaller than that of the electrons, to have a blocking effect to the hole injection. Based on the fact that elements belong to a same system on the periodic table of the elements have similar characters with each other, the colorless or light colored oxides or nitrides of rare earth metals, for example, the oxides or nitrides of light rare earth metals such as lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), and heavy rare earth metals such as gadolinium (Gd), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutecium (Lu), scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y) can all be arranged close to the anode of the visible light conversion layer blocking the dark current injection. The above arrangement has a decreased cost due to the low cost of rare earth metal.
(20) Shown in
(21) Further, in the structure shown in
(22) Further, there is a certain difference between average work functions of different kinds of transparent conductive oxides. Specifically, some conventional transparent conductive oxides can be sequenced by size of work function as follows: ITOIn.sub.2O.sub.3ZnO.sub.2Zn.sub.4Sn.sub.3O.sub.12Zn.sub.2Sn.sub.2O.sub.5AGZOMgIn.sub.2O.sub.4GaInO.sub.3ZnSnO.sub.3. The materials listed here are only schematic, other transparent conductive oxides, such as the dual transparent conducting oxide, ternary transparent conducting oxide, or quaternary transparent conducting oxide thereof, or the composition thereof, can all be sequenced by size of work function. Selections can be made referring to the sequence to select a transparent conductive oxide with a high work function as the blocking layer for electron injection, and a transparent conducive oxide with a low work function as the blocking layer hole injection. Seen from the circuit structure of the conversion layer, the transparent conducting oxide with a high work function is used as a cathode applied with negative voltage, the transparent conducting oxide with a low work function is used as an anode applied with positive voltage. Further, the surface work function of the transparent conductive oxide varies as the filming process and later annealing process thereof may be different. By adjusting the processes, ITO with a high work function can be made as the cathode, ITO with a low work function can be made as the anode.
(23) Shown in
(24) Combining
(25) The first step is shown in
(26) The next step is shown in
(27) The next step is shown in
(28) The next step is shown in
(29) In another specific embodiment, shown in
(30) As another specific embodiment, a composite insulating film formed by the inorganic film stacking on the organic film can be used as the first insulating film. One role of the arrangement is to fill gaps and corners of the electrodes with the organic film coated below. Another role is to have a better interface characteristic (electric, chemical interface characteristic and surface adhesion characteristic) between the inorganic film on the top and the visible light conversion layer or the second hole or electron blocking layer. In the embodiment of the composite insulating film, the maximum height of the composite insulating film counting from the bottom surface of the second transparent electrode layer is larger than 102% of the thickness of the second transparent electrode layer. The maximum height of the organic film coated below counting from the bottom surface of the second transparent electrode is smaller than 98% of the thickness of the second transparent electrode layer, so that the exposed part on the first continuous surface after polishing is basically the second transparent electrode and the inorganic film, the area of the organic film exposed is less than 5% of the total area of the composite insulating film.
(31) Shown in
(32) Hence, after depositing the visible light conversion layer on the first continuous surface, the strength of the electric field at edges and corners of the electrodes are decreased greatly, to decrease the local leakage current of the a-SiH film 227. Such kind of local leakage current is usually caused by two reasons as follows: the relatively high strength of local electric field caused by the point effect of electrode; and the smaller thickness of the film covering the edges of the electrode or the edges of the segment gap compared to the flat area. In the present disclosure, local leakage current can be avoided by decreasing or even eliminating the segment gap.
(33) Another two embodiments of the present disclosure will be described referring to
(34) Referring to
(35) Further, to increase the height of the schottky barrier blocking electrons, in the electronic potential diagram of
(36) On that account, in the present disclosure, multiple layers comprising the blocking layer for electron and hole injection, the buffer layer for electric field and the conversion layer are deposited on the first continuous surface having a surface roughness less than 5 mm and almost equal to a mirror surface. Therefore the strength of the electric field at edges and corners of each separate pixel electrode is decreased greatly, to decrease the local leakage current of the visible light conversion layer at the edge of the pixel electrode. Besides, with the arrangement of the electron or hole blocking layer in the visible light conversion layer and the buffer area for electric field close to the electron or hole blocking layer, the present disclosure also decreases the dark current injected from the anode or cathode, and increases the homogeneity and signal to noise ratio of signals.
(37) The electron or hole blocking layer has asymmetric heights of potential barriers to electrons or holes, to form unilateral conductivity selectivity to electrons or holes. The electron or hole blocking layer of the insulating film comprising oxides or nitrides has an I-V characteristic similar to a MIS tunnel diode, and the probability of carriers getting over the barrier heights extremely depends on the height and thickness of the barrier and the electric field strength at two ends of the barrier. When the thickness of the barrier is doubled, the current may be decreased by at least three orders of magnitudes. Such apparent nonlinearity results in that the transversal conductivity between the first pixel electrodes is basically restrained. While unilaterally conductivity of single carrier can be realized by a stronger electric field and a thicker blocking layer of insulating film.
(38) Considering the characteristic of anisotropic conductivity of the electron or hole blocking layer filmed on the first continuous surface, the transversal leakage current between adjacent pixel electrodes is restrained. Therefore, there is no need to divide the conversion layer into islands according to the size of each pixel electrode. Thereby, not only the structure of the device and manufacturing process are simplified, but also the effective utilization ratio of the photoelectric conversion film is increased, the sidewall leakage current in the case of the conversion layer being divided into islands is eliminated, to basically eliminate the color mixture and photoelectric crosstalk caused by incident light irradiating with a wide angle. Therefore, there is no need to arrange excessive photo masks to prevent the color mixture and crosstalk, thereby preventing the utilization ratio of light from being decreased excessively. By this way, the gap between the pixels can be reduced even to a distance of 0.5 um10 um without influencing the effective aperture ratio of the first photoelectric conversion film layer, therefore a multispectral imaging device having both high resolution and wide power margin can be realized.
(39) The basic concept and a plurality of embodiments of the present disclosure are described above. Here a statement need to be made that the present disclosure is not limited by the above specific embodiments, the person skilled in the art may make all kinds of transformations and amendments and combinations within the scope of claims, which will not influence the actual contents of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is also not limited to medical imaging application as described in the present disclosure, it may also be used in other fields such as industrial and agriculture products, environment monitoring and diagnosis, recognition of personal identity, instruments in gaming industry, virtual reality and augmented reality and etc.