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AssigneeSharp Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorTomohiro Konishi
Estimating the term…
In a solid-state image capturing device having the locations of photodiodes in each pixel unit to be different according to a sequence, the light receiving sensitivity and the luminance shading characteristic are improved. A circumferential portion of a microlens 12 which is arranged above a corresponding photodiode 11 is formed so as to overlap an adjacent microlens 12 thereto, and the locations of microlenses 12 in each pixel unit are different according to a sequence. Light of an image that is incident upon each of the microlenses 12 is incident upon approximately the same portion (e.g., central portion) of each of the respective photodiodes 11.
A solid-state image capturing device, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [ssis]
SSIS architectures; Circuits associated therewith: sSIS architectures characterised by non-identical, non-equidistant or non-planar pixel layout
Manufacture or treatment of image sensors covered by group H10F39/12: of coatings or optical elements
Optical elements or arrangements associated with the image sensors: microlenses
About 3 years 2 months of term left · ends 22 Dec 2029 (estimated)
The present invention relates to: a solid-state image capturing device in which the locations of adjacent photoelectrical conversion sections in each pixel unit are different according to a sequence, and the light of an image from a subject is photoelectrically converted at each of the photoelectrical conversion sections and is then image-captured as a pixel; a method for manufacturing the solid-state image capturing device and; and an electronic information device (e.g., digital camera (digital video camera, digital still camera or the like), image input camera, scanner, facsimile, cell phone device equipped with camera and the like) using the solid-state image capturing device as an image input device for an image capturing section thereof.
Recently, in a conventional solid-state image capturing device such as a CCD image sensor or CMOS image sensor, the reduction of the size of a pixel cell have been extensively performed. In particular, in a CMOS image sensor, in order to reduce the size of a pixel cell, the reduction of the number of transistors required per pixel has rapidly progressed by having a plurality of photodiodes (light receiving sections; photoelectrical conversion sections) sharing one output amplifier.
Herein, first, a case will be described with reference to FIG. 14 in which one output amplifier is provided for one photodiode, and photodiodes are arranged at even intervals in a matrix in a row direction and a column direction. Next, a case will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 to 17 in which one output amplifier is shared by two photodiodes, and the locations of photodiodes are different according to a sequence.
FIG. 1 is a plane view showing an exemplary essential structure of a pixel section in a solid-state image capturing device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view schematically showing a portion cut at line A-A′ in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view schematically showing the light focusing characteristic with respect to the light which is incident from an oblique direction at a periphery of a chip in the solid-state image capturing device in FIG. 1.
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 50A solid-state image capturing device
11, 21, 31, 41, 51 photodiode
12, 22, 32, 42A, 42B, 52 microlens