US 12,148,755 B2
Front-side-type image sensor
Walter Schwarzenbach, Saint Nazaire les Eymes (FR); Manuel Sellier, Grenoble (FR); and Ludovic Ecarnot, Grenoble (FR)
Assigned to Soitec, Bernin (FR)
Appl. No. 17/254,808
Filed by Soitec, Bernin (FR)
PCT Filed Jun. 21, 2019, PCT No. PCT/FR2019/051515
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 18, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/243751, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 26, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 1855540 (FR), filed on Jun. 21, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0384223 A1, Dec. 9, 2021
Int. Cl. H01L 27/12 (2006.01); H01L 27/146 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 27/1203 (2013.01) [H01L 27/1461 (2013.01); H01L 27/1462 (2013.01); H01L 27/1463 (2013.01); H01L 27/14643 (2013.01); H01L 27/14683 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A front-side imager comprising, in succession:
a semiconductor carrier substrate;
a first electrically insulating separating layer; and
an active layer comprising a single-crystal semiconductor layer, the active layer comprising a matrix array of photodiodes; and
wherein the front-side imager further comprises, between the semiconductor carrier substrate and the first electrically insulating separating layer:
a second electrically insulating separating layer, and
an intermediate layer comprising a second semiconductor or electrically conductive layer, arranged between the second electrically insulating separating layer and the first electrically insulating separating layer, the second electrically insulating separating layer being thicker than the first electrically insulating separating layer,
wherein each photodiode is separated from an adjacent photodiode by at least one electrically isolating trench extending to the first electrically insulating separating layer; and
wherein the at least one electrically isolating trench comprises an electrically conductive or semiconductor via extending up to the intermediate layer between walls made of an electrically insulating material.