Range imaging element and range imaging apparatus

A range imaging element, comprising:

• a pixel circuit configured to be positioned on a semiconductor substrate and comprising a photoelectric converter, a charge storage, at least one transfer MOS transistor, and at least one discharge MOS transistor,
• wherein the photoelectric converter is configured to generate electric charge corresponding to incident light received from a space, a charge storage is configured to store the electric charge generated by the photoelectric converter, the at least one transfer MOS transistor is positioned on a transfer path of the electric charge being transferred from the photoelectric converter to the charge storage, the at least one discharge MOS transistor is positioned on a discharge path of the electric charge being discharged from the photoelectric converter, the photoelectric converter is positioned on the semiconductor substrate and is N-gonal where Nis an integer equal to or greater than 4, the at least one transfer MOS transistor and the at least one discharge MOS transistor are positioned on sides of the photoelectric converter, respectively, and at least one of the at least one transfer MOS transistor and the at least one discharge MOS transistor has a tapered shape that has a width dimension parallel with a respective one of the sides on which the at least one MOS transistor is positioned and gradually decreasing within the photoelectric converter away from the respective one of the sides of the photoelectric converter.