Imaging apparatus and image sensor including the same
View Patent ↗An image sensor includes a substrate, thin lenses disposed on a first surface of the substrate and configured to concentrate lights incident on the first surface, and light-sensing cells disposed on a second surface of the substrate, the second surface facing the first surface, and the light-sensing cells being configured to sense lights passing through the thin lenses, and generate electrical signals based on the sensed lights. A first thin lens and second thin lens of the thin lenses are configured to concentrate a first light and a second light, respectively, of the incident lights onto the light-sensing cells, the first light having a different wavelength than the second light.
1. An image sensor comprising:
a substrate;
thin lenses disposed on a first surface of the substrate and configured to concentrate lights incident on the first surface;
light-sensing cells disposed on a second surface of the substrate, the second surface facing the first surface, and the light-sensing cells being configured to sense lights passing through the thin lenses, and generate electrical signals based on the sensed lights,
wherein a first thin lens and a second thin lens of the thin lenses are configured to concentrate a first light and a second light, respectively, of the incident lights onto the light-sensing cells with different focal lengths, the first light having a different wavelength than the second light, and
wherein each of the thin lenses comprises scatterers, the scatterers including material having a refractive index higher than a refractive index of the substrate; and
a depth map calculator configured to calculate a defocusing degree of an image that is produced on each of the light-sensing cells, and calculate depth map information about an image that is produced by the incident lights, based on the defocusing degree.
2. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises sub-substrates, and
the thin lenses and the light-sensing cells are respectively disposed on a first surface and a second surface of each of the sub-substrates.
3. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein each of the scatterers has a pillar structure.
4. The image sensor of claim 3 , wherein an interval distance between a pair of the scatterers is less than a respective wavelength of light concentrated by a respective one among the thin lenses.
5. The image sensor of claim 3 , wherein a height of the scatterers is less than a respective wavelength of light concentrated by a respective one among the thin lenses.
6. The image sensor of claim 3 , wherein the scatterers comprise at least one from among silicon, gallium phosphide, SiC, SiN, and TiO 2 .
7. The image sensor of claim 3 , wherein shapes of the scatterers and interval distances between respective pairs of the scatterers vary with a respective wavelength of light concentrated by a respective one among the thin lenses.
8. The image sensor of claim 1 further comprising light filters, each of the light filters being configured to filter a respective wavelength of light incident on a respective one among the light-sensing cells.
9. The image sensor of claim 1 further comprising an image synthesizer configured to generate a multi-color image by synthesizing images of different colors,
wherein at least two among the light-sensing cells produce the images of different colors.
10. An image sensor comprising:
a substrate;
thin lenses disposed on a first surface of the substrate and configured to concentrate lights incident on the first surface;
light-sensing cells disposed on a second surface of the substrate, the second surface facing the first surface, and the light-sensing cells being configured to sense lights passing through the thin lenses, and generate electrical signals based on the sensed lights,
wherein a first thin lens and a second thin lens of the thin lenses are configured to concentrate a first light and a second light, respectively, of the incident lights to have different focal lengths, and
wherein each of the thin lenses comprises scatterers, the scatterers including material having a refractive index higher than a refractive index of the substrate; and
a depth map calculator configured to calculate a defocusing degree of an image that is produced on each of the light-sensing cells, and calculate depth map information about an image that is produced by the incident lights, based on the defocusing degree.
11. The image sensor of claim 10 , wherein the substrate comprises sub-substrates, and
the thin lenses and the light-sensing cells are respectively disposed on a first surface and a second surface of each of the sub-substrates.
12. The image sensor of claim 10 , wherein the concentrated lights have predetermined wavelengths.
13. The image sensor of claim 10 , wherein each of the scatterers has a pillar structure.
14. The image sensor of claim 13 , wherein an interval distance between a pair of the scatterers is less than a respective wavelength of light concentrated by a respective one among the thin lenses.
15. The image sensor of claim 13 , wherein a height of the scatterers is less than a respective wavelength of light concentrated by a respective one among the thin lenses.
16. The image sensor of claim 13 , wherein shapes of the scatterers and interval distances between respective pairs of the scatterers vary with a respective wavelength of light concentrated by a respective one among the thin lenses.
17. The image sensor of claim 10 further comprising a light filter layer configured to filter a wavelength of light incident on each of the light-sensing cells.