1. A method of making an embedded microlens structure comprising:
providing a substrate including at least one photo-sensing region;
forming a dielectric film overlying the substrate, the dielectric film having a first index of refraction;
forming a mask layer overlying the dielectric film;
creating a circular opening in the mask layer, the opening being center-aligned over the at least one photo-sensing region;
etching the dielectric film to form a cavity under the mask layer by introducing an isotropic etchant through the opening, the cavity being characterized by a truncated plano-convex shape having a flat circular bottom and convex peripheral sides curved towards the dielectric film;
removing the mask layer;
depositing a lens material having a second index of refraction overlying the dielectric film and filling at least partially the cavity, the second index of refraction being higher than the first index of refraction;
planarizing the lens material to form a microlens in the cavity having a smooth top surface; and
forming a color filter layer overlaying the smooth top surface of the microlens.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the photo-sensing region comprises a photodiode.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the dielectric film comprises a light transparent material having a refractive index of 1.5 or less.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the dielectric film comprises silicon dioxide.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mask layer comprises a photoresist.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein creating a circular opening in the mask layer comprises dry etching or lithography patterning.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the circular opening comprises an area that is smaller than the photo-sensing region in the substrate.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein etching the dielectric film to form a cavity under the mask layer comprises an isotropic wet etching process using a buffered HF etchant.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the truncated plano-convex shaped cavity is approximately center-aligned to the opening of the mask layer.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising a wet-dip process that is performed around a rim edge of the cavity to reduce a curvature of the rim edge following the removing of the mask layer.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the depositing a lens material comprises one of the PVD, or CVD, or spin-on process.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the lens material is selected from the group consisting of SiNx, Al2O3, ZrO2, TiO2, and HfO2.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the second index of refraction is equal to about 2.0 and higher.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the planarizing the lens material comprises a CMP process.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the microlens formed in the cavity comprises a truncated plano-convex shaped lens that is center-aligned to the photo-sensing region.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein the smooth top surface of the microlens is circular shaped having a radius that is approximately 2 to 4 times a radius of the flat circular bottom.
17. The method of claim 1, wherein the microlens is located at a pre-determined distance atop the photo-sensing region separated by the dielectric film.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein the color filter layer overlying the microlens comprises a negative photoresist that is based on an acrylic polymer including color pigments.
19. The method of claim 1, wherein the color filter layer has a refractive index that is smaller than the second refractive index of the lens material.
20. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming a color transparent layer including an anti-reflection coating overlying the color filter layer to seal and protect the color filter layer.
21. A method of forming an embedded microlens array comprising:
providing a semiconductor substrate including an array of photo-detectors;
depositing a transparent film overlying the photo-detector array;
forming a mask layer overlying the transparent film;
forming a plurality of circular openings in the mask layer, each of the openings being center-aligned over at least one photo-detector;
etching the transparent film to form a plurality of cavities under the mask layer by introducing an isotropic etchant through the openings, each cavity being characterized by a truncated plano-convex shape having a flat circular bottom and convex peripheral sides towards the transparent film;
removing the mask layer;
wet-dipping around a peripheral rim of each cavity to obtain a curved surface;
depositing a lens material overlying the transparent film and filling the plurality of cavities;
planarizing the lens material to form a microlens array with a smooth top surface; each microlens having the truncated plano-convex shape of the cavity; and
forming a color filter layer overlying the top surface of the microlens array.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the lens material is selected from the group consisting of silicon nitride (Si3N4), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), hafnium oxide (HfO2), titanium dioxide (TiO2), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), and zinc oxide (ZnO).
23. The method of claim 21, wherein the array of photo-detectors receives an incident light through the color filter layer and the microlens array and converts the incident light to an electrical signal.
24. The method of claim 21, wherein the array of photo-detectors is associated with a color CMOS image sensor.
25. The method of claim 21, wherein the array of photo-detectors is associated with a charge-coupled device (CCD).
26. The method of claim 21, wherein the array of photo-detectors is associated with a contact image sensor.
27. The method of claim 21, wherein the transparent film comprises silicon dioxide.
28. The method of claim 21, wherein the lens material comprises a refractive index equal to or greater than 2.0.
29. The method of claim 21, wherein the color filter layer has a refractive index smaller than a refractive index of the lens material.
30. An image sensor device comprising:
an array of photo sensing portions formed in a semiconductor substrate;
a first dielectric layer overlying the array of photo-sensors, the first dielectric layer having a first index of refraction and including a surface;
an array of microlenses embedded in the surface, each of the microlenses being center-aligned over one of the array of photo-sensors and having a truncated plano-convex shape, the microlenses being formed from a second dielectric material having a second index of refraction; and
a color filter layer overlying the array of microlenses.
31. The image sensor device of claim 30 further comprising a plurality of charge transfer circuits formed in the semiconductor substrate, each of the charge transfer circuits being coupled to each of the array of photo sensors.
32. The image sensor device of claim 30, wherein each of the array of photo-sensors comprises a CCD camera pixel, a photodiode, or an RGB color sensor element.
33. The image sensor device of claim 30, wherein the semiconductor substrate comprises a back-end-of-line processed silicon wafer, an SOI substrate, a quartz substrate, a ceramic substrate, or a glass substrate.
34. The image sensor device of claim 30, wherein the first dielectric layer comprises silicon dioxide or polyimide with index of refraction equal to or slightly less than 1.5.
35. The image sensor device of claim 30, wherein the first dielectric layer comprises a thickness capable of forming embedded microlens having a predetermined focal length.
36. The image sensor device of claim 30, wherein the second dielectric material is selected from the group consisting of silicon nitride, titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, hafnium oxide, and zinc oxide.
37. The image sensor device of claim 30, wherein the second dielectric material comprises an index of refraction about 2.0 or higher.
38. The image sensor device of claim 30, wherein the truncated plano-convex shape of the microlens includes a circular top having a smooth top surface, a flat circular bottom, and a curved circumferential side convex towards the first dielectric layer.
39. The image sensor device of claim 38, wherein the circular top comprises a diameter that is equal to or slightly less than a distance between the center of any two adjacent microlenses.
40. The image sensor device of claim 38, wherein the circular top of each of the microlenses is co-planar with the surface of the first dielectric layer.
41. The image sensor device of claim 38, wherein the flat circular bottom comprises a diameter that is about \xbc to \xbd of the circular top’s diameter.
42. The image sensor device of claim 38, wherein the circular bottom is separated from the array of photo sensors by the first dielectric layer.
43. The image sensor device of claim 30, wherein the color filter layer comprises a negative photoresist based on an acrylic polymer including color pigments.
44. The image sensor device of claim 43, wherein the color pigments comprise red, green, blue (RGB) or cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY) dyed polymers.
45. The image sensor device of claim 30, wherein the color filter layer comprises an index of refraction smaller than the second index of refraction.
46. The image sensor device of claim 30 further comprising an anti-reflection coating interposed between the microlenses and the color filter layer.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for providing a challenge user interface for an enterprise social network including users associated with an entity, the method comprising:
receiving, by a processor system of the enterprise social network, a request for a challenge leader board of users of the enterprise social network in response to a challenge being selected from a list of displayed challenges with the selected challenge having an associated point category, wherein the challenge leader board is based on users of the enterprise social network awarding challenge points to other users of the enterprise social network for challenges in the same point category as the point category of the selected challenge;
obtaining, by the processor system, in response to the request, challenge leader board information comprising an ordered list of users based on an amount of challenge points each user has been awarded in challenges in the same point category as the point category of the selected challenge; and
transmitting, by the processor system, challenge user interface information including the challenge leader board information to the user system associated with the user for display of the challenge leader board with the challenge user interface, wherein the challenge user interface further comprises a selected challenge section including fields for information related to the selected challenge, wherein the challenge user interface further comprises a challenge comment section including fields for entering comments related to the selected challenge, and wherein the selected challenge section, the challenge comment section, and the challenge leader board are provided for concurrent display in the challenge user interface.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the ordered list of users being ordered in a descending order from highest to lowest based on the amount of challenge points each user has earned in the same point category as the point category of the selected challenge.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the challenge information further comprises images corresponding to each listed user, a name corresponding to each image, and a total number of points corresponding to each listed user.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the each image is one of a digital photo and an avatar.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting, by the processor system in response to the request, a rank and points corresponding to the user requesting the challenge leader board information for display on the user system associated with the user who sent the request.
6. The method of claim 5 further comprising transmitting, by the processor system in response to the request, 1 wherein the challenge leader board is based on overall points earned by each user, wherein the overall points are for two or more types of points.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the challenge leader board is based on total points earned by each user within a category of points.
8. A non-transitory machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for a challenge user interface for an enterprise social network including users associated with an entity, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:
receiving, by a processor system of the enterprise social network, a request for a challenge leader board of users of the enterprise social network, wherein the challenge leader board is based on users of the enterprise social network awarding challenge points to other users of the enterprise social network;
obtaining, by the processor system, in response to the request, challenge leader board information comprising an ordered list of users based on an amount of challenge points each user has been awarded; and
transmitting, by the processor system, challenge user interface information including the challenge leader board information to the user system associated with the user for display of the challenge leader board with the challenge user interface, wherein the challenge user interface further comprises a selected challenge section including fields for information related to the selected challenge, wherein the challenge user interface further comprises a challenge comment section including fields for entering comments related to the selected challenge, and wherein the selected challenge section, the challenge comment section, and the challenge leader board are provided for concurrent display in the challenge user interface.
9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the ordered list of users being ordered in a descending order from highest to lowest based on the amount of challenge points each user has earned.
10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the recognition challenge information further comprises images corresponding to each listed user, a name corresponding to each image, and a total number of points corresponding to each listed user.
11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the each image is one of a digital photo and an avatar.
12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 further comprising transmitting, by the processor system in response to the request, a rank and points corresponding to the user requesting the challenge leader board information for display on the user system associated with the user who sent the request.
13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the challenge leader board is based on overall points earned by each user, wherein the overall points are for two or more types of points.
14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the challenge leader board is based on total points earned by each user within a category of points.
15. An apparatus for a challenge user interface for an enterprise social network including users associated with an entity, the apparatus comprising:
a processor system; and
one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor system, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
receiving a request for a challenge leader board of users of the enterprise social network, wherein the challenge leader board is based on users of the enterprise social network awarding challenge points to other users of the enterprise social network;
obtaining in response to the request, challenge leader board information comprising an ordered list of users based on an amount of challenge points each user has been awarded; and
transmitting challenge user interface information including the challenge leader board information to the user system associated with the user for display of the challenge leader board with the challenge user interface, wherein the challenge user interface further comprises a selected challenge section including fields for information related to the selected challenge, wherein the challenge user interface further comprises a challenge comment section including fields for entering comments related to the selected challenge, and wherein the selected challenge section, the challenge comment section, and the challenge leader board are provided for concurrent display in the challenge user interface.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the ordered list of users being ordered in a descending order from highest to lowest based on the amount of challenge points each user has earned.
17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the recognition challenge information further comprises images corresponding to each listed user, a name corresponding to each image, and a total number of points corresponding to each listed user.
18. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising transmitting, by the processor system in response to the request, a rank and points corresponding to the user requesting the challenge leader board information for display on the user system associated with the user who sent the request.
19. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the challenge leader board is based on overall points earned by each user, wherein the overall points are for two or more types of points.
20. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the challenge leader board is based on total points earned by each user within a category of points.