US 12,136,637 B2
Flare-blocking image sensor
Alireza Bonakdar, San Jose, CA (US); Shinn-Jhy Lian, San Jose, CA (US); and Badrinath Padmanabhan, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 10, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/963,015.
Application 17/963,015 is a division of application No. 16/777,027, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now 11,469,264.
Prior Publication US 2023/0043844 A1, Feb. 9, 2023
Int. Cl. H01L 27/146 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 27/14623 (2013.01) [H01L 27/14605 (2013.01); H01L 27/14621 (2013.01); H01L 27/14627 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A flare-blocking image sensor comprising:
a plurality of large pixels in a semiconductor substrate and forming a first pixel array that has a pixel pitch Px and Py in respective orthogonal directions x and y each parallel to a top surface of the semiconductor substrate, the plurality of large pixels including a first large pixel;
a plurality of small pixels in the semiconductor substrate and forming a second pixel array that has a pixel pitch Px and Py in respective directions x and y and is offset from the first pixel array by ½Px and ½Py in respective directions x and y, the first large pixel being between and collinear with a first and a second small pixel, of the plurality of small pixels, having a center-to-center separation equal to √Px2+Py2 in a first direction, each of the first and second small pixels having, in the first direction, a small-pixel width W less than both pixel pitch Px and Py;
a large microlens aligned with the first large pixel; and
a first opaque extension in a plane parallel to the top surface and between the first large pixel and the large microlens, extending, in the first direction, a distance d1 less than

OG Complex Work Unit Math
from (i) a boundary between the first small pixel and the first large pixel toward (ii) the second small pixel, and having, in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, a first width less than or equal to small-pixel width W, wherein small-pixel width W exceeds the first width by a factor between eight and twelve.