Dual-Sensor Pixel Layout Using Selective Absorption for Color Purity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current image sensor technologies, such as the Bayer mosaic and stacked RGB sensors, suffer from severe vertical color leakage and information loss due to the overlap of red, green, and blue channels, leading to undesired color artifacts.
Innovation Solution
The use of two precisely aligned photosensitive arrays with a selectively absorbing medium, such as silicon, where the incident light beam strikes one sensor directly and the other after traversing a layer of silicon, allowing the light intensity ratio to determine the color at each photosite, eliminating the need for multiple layers and reducing color leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If stacked RGB photosensors are used to capture complete color information, then color information completeness is improved, but vertical color leakage occurs due to large overlap of red, green and blue channels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a three-layer stacked architecture (depth dimension) to a two-layer architecture with a selective absorption layer positioned between them. This dimensional reconfiguration allows the selective absorption layer to filter specific wavelengths before light reaches the second sensor layer, thereby reducing color channel overlap and vertical color leakage while maintaining complete color information capture.
Solution Approach 2:
The selective absorption layer acts as an intermediary element between the first and second sensor layers. This intermediate layer selectively absorbs specific wavelength ranges, preventing direct transmission of certain colors to deeper layers and thereby eliminating the harmful vertical color leakage effect while preserving the ability to capture complete color information.
2Quantity of substance
If multiple photosensitive layers are stacked to increase information density, then pixel density is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the wavelength selection function from the traditional multi-layer sensor architecture and implements it through a separate selective absorption layer. This extraction simplifies the overall sensor construction by using only two photosensitive layers instead of three, reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining high information density through the added spectral discrimination capability.
3Device complexity
If Bayer mosaic interpolation is used to obtain RGB triplet, then device complexity is reduced, but information loss and color artifacts occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the spectral information capture by using a selective absorption layer to divide the incident light into distinct wavelength ranges before they reach the second sensor layer. This segmentation allows each photosite to capture more complete spectral information without requiring complex interpolation, thereby eliminating color artifacts while maintaining relatively simple sensor construction.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables complete color information capture per pixel without color leakage, expands the dynamic range of the image, simplifies sensor construction, maximizes pixel density, and eliminates color artifacts, while maintaining accurate color representation.
Implementation Method 1
the selective absorption layer (13) of predetermined thickness, said selective absorption layer being constructed from a material, e.g. silicon, which absorbs light of different wavelengths selectively
Implementation Method 2
Each one of the two sensors contains an array of photosensitive elements, of a type well-known in the art, and hereinafter referred to as 'photosites'
Data Source
AI summary
An innovative image acquisition device is disclosed, providing an effective solution for maximizing information density, while reducing color artifacts. The device of the invention relies on selective wavelength absorption, in certain substances. The novel solution utilizes two photosite arrays, or sensors, separated by an absorption layer, of predetermined thickness. Thus, an incident light beam strikes the two sensors in different proportions, exposing one array to the unaltered incident light, while the light striking the other array is partially absorbed. Light intensity ratio, between corresponding photosites on the two sensors uniquely identifies the incident light wavelength, and subsequently its color.