Method for manufacturing solid-state imaging element, solid-state imaging element, method for manufacturing electronic apparatus, and electronic apparatus

US8951823B2 · US · B2

Patent metadata
FieldValue
Publication numberUS-8951823-B2
Application numberUS-201213480959-A
CountryUS
Kind codeB2
Filing dateMay 25, 2012
Priority dateJun 28, 2011
Publication dateFeb 10, 2015
Grant dateFeb 10, 2015

How to read this patent

A practical reading order for non-experts. Skip the full description unless you need deep technical detail.

  1. Title

    What the patent document calls the invention.

  2. Abstract

    A short plain-language summary of the technical disclosure.

  3. Assignees and inventors

    Who owns or filed the patent and who is credited as inventor.

  4. Key dates

    Filing, priority, publication, and grant dates set the timeline.

  5. First independent claim

    The legal scope of protection — read this for what is actually claimed.

  6. CPC / IPC classifications

    Technology tags used to group this patent with similar filings.

  7. Citations and related patents

    Prior art links and similar publications in this corpus.

Abstract

Official abstract text for this publication.

Disclosed herein is a method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element, the method including forming lenses that are each provided corresponding to a light receiving part of a respective one of a plurality of pixels arranged in an imaging area over a semiconductor substrate and collect light onto the light receiving parts; forming a light blocking layer by performing film deposition on the lenses by using a material having light blocking capability; and forming a light blocker composed of the material having light blocking capability at a boundary part between the lenses adjacent to each other by etching the light blocking layer in such a manner that the material having light blocking capability is left at the boundary part between the lenses.

First claim

Opening claim text (preview).

What is claimed is: 1. A method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element, the method comprising: forming first lenses that are each provided corresponding to a light receiving part of a respective one of a plurality of pixels arranged in an imaging area over a semiconductor substrate and collect light onto the light receiving parts; forming a light blocking layer by performing film deposition on the first lenses by using a material having light blocking capability; forming a first light blocker composed of the material having light blocking capability at a boundary part between the first lenses adjacent to each other by etching the light blocking layer in such a manner that the material having light blocking capability is left at the boundary part between the first lenses; forming second lenses that are provided over each first lens and that are convex, the second lenses being adjacent to each other with no gap therebetween; and forming a second light blocker formed on a concave boundary between each of the second lenses. 2. The method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element according to claim 1 , wherein the material having light blocking capability is a metal. 3. The method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element according to claim 1 , wherein the forming the light blocking layer includes forming an adhesion layer to allow adhesion of the material having light blocking capability to a material to form the first lenses. 4. The method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element according to claim 1 , further comprising forming an etching stopper film on the first lenses by using a material having etching selectivity with respect to the material having light blocking capability, between the forming the first lenses and the forming the light blocking layer. 5. The method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element according to claim 4 , wherein a material having a refractive index that is lower than a refractive index of a material to form the first lenses and is higher than a refractive index of a material of a layer formed over the lenses with intermediary of the etching stopper film is used as the material having etching selectivity. 6. The method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element according to claim 4 , wherein film deposition of the light blocking layer and the etching stopper film is performed under a temperature condition in which temperature of the first lenses is at most 200° C., in the forming the light blocking layer and the forming the etching stopper film. 7. The method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element according to claim 1 , further comprising applying a planarization resist film over the light blocking layer, between the forming the light blocking layer and the forming the light blocker, wherein the material having light blocking capability is conformally deposited in the forming the light blocking layer, and the planarization resist film is etched together with the light blocking layer in the forming the light blocker. 8. The method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element according to claim 1 , further comprising forming a hard mask at the boundary part between the lenses on the light blocking layer, between the forming the light blocking layer and the forming the light blocker. 9. The method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element according to claim 8 , wherein the material having light blocking capability is conformally deposited in the forming the light blocking layer. 10. The method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element according to claim 1 , wherein the first lenses are gapless lenses having no gap between the first lenses adjacent to each other. 11. A method for manufacturing electronic apparatus having a solid-state imaging element, an optical system that guides incident light to light receiving parts of the solid-state imaging element, a drive circuit that generates a drive signal for driving the solid-state imaging element, and a signal processing circuit that processes an output signal of the solid-state imaging element, the method comprising, as manufacturing the solid-state imaging element, forming first lenses that are each provided corresponding to the light receiving part of a respective one of a plurality of pixels arranged in an imaging area over a semiconductor substrate and collect light onto the light receiving parts; forming a light blocking layer by performing film deposition on the first lenses by using a material having light blocking capability; forming a first light blocker composed of the material having light blocking capability at a boundary part between the first lenses adjacent to each other by etching the light blocking layer in such a manner that the material having light blocking capability is left at the boundary part between the first lenses; forming second lenses that are provided over each first lens and are convex, the second lenses being formed adjacent to each other with no gap therebetween; and forming a second light blocker on a concave boundary between second lenses.

Assignees

Inventors

Classifications

Patent family

Related publications grouped by family.

External sources

Frequently asked questions

Answers are generated from the same data shown on this page.

What does patent US8951823B2 cover?
Disclosed herein is a method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element, the method including forming lenses that are each provided corresponding to a light receiving part of a respective one of a plurality of pixels arranged in an imaging area over a semiconductor substrate and collect light onto the light receiving parts; forming a light blocking layer by performing film deposition on th…
Who is the assignee on this patent?
Masuda Yoshiaki, Sony Corp
What technology area does this patent fall under?
Primary CPC classification H10F39/8057. Mapped technology areas include Electricity.
When was this patent published?
Publication date Tue Feb 10 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) (B2). Legal status and post-grant events are not shown on this page.
What related patents are in patentsdb?
We list 8 related publications on this page (citations in our corpus or others sharing the same primary CPC).