Solid-state image sensing element and its design support method, and image sensing device

A design support method for supporting to design a solid-state image sensing element having a photoelectric conversion element which converts incoming light into an electrical signal in accordance with an amount of the light, a microlens which is arranged on an incident surface, a light guide which is arranged between the photoelectric conversion element and the microlens, and an insulating interlayer which is arranged around the light guide, comprising:

• a condition acquisition step of acquiring at least some of conditions including a distance L from an exit pupil of an image sensing optical system of an image sensing device, which mounts an image sensor formed by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of said solid-state image sensing elements, a distance H from a center of the image sensor to a position of said solid-state image sensing element on the image sensor, a height D from the photoelectric conversion element to an apex of the microlens, a spacing P between the plurality of solid-state image sensing elements, a refractive index NH of the light guide, and a refractive index NL of the insulating interlayer;
• a determination step of determining if all the conditions can be acquired in said condition acquisition step;
• a calculation step of computing, when it is determined in the determination step that all the conditions can be acquired,
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• and calculating a;
• a computing step of computing, when it is determined in the determination step that all the conditions cannot be acquired, a value which satisfies 0<a<1 for a condition which cannot be acquired;
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• a notifying step of notifying the calculated a value or the value computed in the computing step.

A design support apparatus for supporting to design a solid-state image sensing element having a photoelectric conversion element which converts incoming light into an electrical signal in accordance with an amount of the light, a microlens which is arranged on an incident surface, a light guide which is arranged between the photoelectric conversion element and the microlens, and an insulating interlayer which is arranged around the light guide, comprising:

• a condition acquisition unit that acquires at least some of conditions including a distance L from an exit pupil of an image sensing optical system of an image sensing device, which mounts an image sensor formed by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of said solid-state image sensing elements, a distance H from a center of the image sensor to a position of said solid-state image sensing element on the image sensor, a height D from the photoelectric conversion element to an apex of the microlens, a spacing P between the plurality of solid-state image sensing elements, a refractive index NH of the light guide, and a refractive index NL of the insulating interlayer;
• a determination unit that determines if all the conditions can be acquired by said condition acquisition unit;
• a computing unit that computes, when said determination unit determines that all the conditions can be acquired,
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• and calculates a, and that computes, when said determination unit determines that all the conditions cannot be acquired, a value which satisfies 0<a<1 for a condition which cannot be acquired;
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• a notifying unit that notifies the calculated a value or the value computed by said computing unit.

A solid-state image sensing element comprising:

• a photoelectric conversion element which converts incoming light into an electrical signal in accordance with an amount of the light;
• a microlens which is arranged on an incident surface;
• a light guide which is arranged between said photoelectric conversion element and said microlens, and is formed of a composite material prepared by dispersing in resin one of titanium oxide (TiO2), silicon nitride (Si3N4), and niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5);
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• an insulating interlayer which is arranged around said light guide and is formed of hydrophobic porous silica,
• wherein said solid-state image sensing element located at a distance (H) satisfies:
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• where L is a distance from an exit pupil of an image sensing optical system of an image sensing device, which mounts an image sensor formed by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of said solid-state image sensing elements, H is a distance from a center of the image sensor to a position of said solid-state image sensing element on the image sensor, D is a height from said photoelectric conversion element to an apex of said microlens, P is a spacing between the plurality of solid-state image sensing elements, NH is a refractive index of said light guide, and NL is a refractive index of said insulating interlayer.

A solid-state image sensing element comprising:

• a photoelectric conversion element which converts incoming light into an electrical signal in accordance with an amount of the light;
• a microlens which is arranged on an incident surface;
• a light guide which is arranged between said photoelectric conversion element and said microlens, and is formed of a material selected from silicon nitride (Si3N4) and silicon oxynitride (SiON);
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• an insulating interlayer which is arranged around said light guide and is formed of silicon oxide (SiO2),
• wherein said solid-state image sensing element located at a distance (H) satisfies:
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• where L is a distance from an exit pupil of an image sensing optical system of an image sensing device, which mounts an image sensor formed by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of said solid-state image sensing elements, H is a distance from a center of the image sensor to a position of said solid-state image sensing element on the image sensor, D is a height from said photoelectric conversion element to an apex of said microlens, P is a spacing between the plurality of solid-state image sensing elements, NH is a refractive index of said light guide, and NL is a refractive index of said insulating interlayer.

A solid-state image sensing element comprising:

• a photoelectric conversion element which converts incoming light into an electrical signal in accordance with an amount of the light;
• a microlens which is arranged on an incident surface;
• a light guide which is arranged between said photoelectric conversion element and said microlens, and is formed of silicon oxide (SiO2);
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• an insulating interlayer which is arranged around said light guide and is formed of hydrophobic porous silica,
• wherein said solid-state image sensing element located at a distance (H) satisfies:
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• where L is a distance from an exit pupil of an image sensing optical system of an image sensing device, which mounts an image sensor formed by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of said solid-state image sensing elements, H is a distance from a center of the image sensor to a position of said solid-state image sensing element on the image sensor, D is a height from said photoelectric conversion element to an apex of said microlens, P is a spacing between the plurality of solid-state image sensing elements, NH is a refractive index of said light guide, and NL is a refractive index of said insulating interlayer.

An image sensing apparatus which has a solid-state image sensing element having a photoelectric conversion element which converts incoming light into an electrical signal in accordance with an amount of the light, a microlens which is arranged on an incident surface, a light guide which is arranged between the photoelectric conversion element and the microlens, and an insulating interlayer which is arranged around the light guide, comprising:

• an attachment/detachment unit that allows an exchangeable lens to attach/detach to/from said image sensing apparatus,
• wherein said solid-state image sensing element located at a distance (H) satisfies:
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• where L is a distance from an exit pupil of an image sensing optical system of an image sensing device, which mounts an image sensor formed by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of said solid-state image sensing elements, H is a distance from a center of the image sensor to a position of said solid-state image sensing element on the image sensor, D is a height from said photoelectric conversion element to an apex of the microlens, P is a spacing between the plurality of solid-state image sensing elements, NH is a refractive index of the light guide, and NL is a refractive index of the insulating interlayer.