High photosensitivity and high speed wide dynamic range ccd image sensor

Claim 1

A wide dynamic range semiconductor photodetector comprising: a) a photosensitive region for generating signal electrons in response to being illuminated including, a substrate, a drain diffusion within said substrate and connected to a source of common drain bias voltage, a source diffusion within said substrate for generating said signal electrons in response to being illuminated, and a gate region for receiving a predetermined control signal and in response alternately resetting the potential of said source diffusion to said common drain bias voltage, and isolating said drain and source diffusions during photogeneration of said signal electrons; b) a collection region including an additional diffusion in said substrate for storing said signal electrons generated within said photosensitive region; c) a shift register for receiving and outputing said signal electrons from said collection region d) a transfer gate intermediate said photosensitive region and said collection region for alternately facilitating transfer of said signal electrons from said photosensitive region for storage in said collection region, and isolating said photosensitive region from said collection region while said signal electrons are being output via said shift register, said additional diffusion separated from said source diffusion by said transfer gate; and e) a wide dynamic range profiled device, for setting the potential of said additional diffusion under dark conditions including a FET transistor having a drain terminal connected to a predetermined source of a bias potential, and interconnected gate source terminals connected to said additional diffusion.