An imaging device that makes it possible to smoothly transfer electric charges from a photoelectric converter to a transfer destination is provided. This imaging device includes: a semiconductor layer having a front surface and a back surface, the back surface being on an opposite side of the front surface; photoelectric converter that is embedded in the semiconductor layer and generates electric charges corresponding to a received light amount; and a transfer section that includes a first trench gate and a second trench gate and transfers the electric charges from the photoelectric converter to a single transfer destination via the first trench gate and the second trench gate, the first trench gate and the second trench gate each extending from the front surface to the back surface of the semiconductor layer into the photoelectric converter. The first trench gate has a first length from the front surface to the photoelectric converter, and the second trench gate has a second length from the front surface to the photoelectric converter, the second length being shorter than the first length.

A back side illuminated image sensor includes a pixel formed by three doped photosensitive regions that are superposed vertically in a semiconductor substrate. Each photosensitive region is laterally framed by a respective vertical annular gate. The vertical annular gates are biased by a control circuit during an integration phase so as to generate an electrostatic potential comprising potential wells in the central portion of the volume of each doped photosensitive region and a potential barrier at each interface between two neighboring doped photosensitive regions.

A light receiving element includes pixels, a wiring region, and a separation region. The pixels have photoelectric conversion units, each photoelectric conversion unit being disposed in a semiconductor substrate to perform photoelectric conversion of incident light. The wiring region has a wiring layer that is connected to the photoelectric conversion unit to transmit a signal and an insulating layer that insulates the wiring layer, the wiring region being disposed adjacent to a front surface opposite to a back surface which is a surface on which the incident light is incident in the semiconductor substrate. The separation region is disposed in the semiconductor substrate at a boundary between the pixels, is formed in a shape which penetrates the semiconductor substrate and in which a width on the front surface side is wider than a width on the back surface side, and separates the photoelectric conversion units from each other.

The present technology relates to a solid-state imaging device and an electronic apparatus that perform a stable overflow from a photodiode and prevent Qs from decreasing and color mixing from occurring. A solid-state imaging device according to an aspect of the present technology includes, at a light receiving surface side of a semiconductor substrate, a charge retention part that generates and retains a charge in response to incident light, an OFD into which the charge saturated at the charge retention part is discharged, and a potential barrier that becomes a barrier of the charge that flows from the charge retention part to the OFD, the OFD including a low concentration OFD and a high concentration OFD having different impurity concentrations of the same type, and the high concentration OFD and the potential barrier being formed at a distance. For example, the present technology is applicable to a CMOS image sensor.

An image sensor includes: a pixel chip provided with a plurality of pixels, a plurality of first transfer lines, and a plurality of capacitors; a circuit chip provided with a plurality of column reading circuits, a plurality of column scanning circuits, a second transfer line, and a constant current source; and a connection portion stacked and provided between the pixel chip and the circuit chip and configured to connect a capacitor, which is arranged in the pixel chip and has a trench structure, and a first transistor arranged in the circuit chip to each other via an electrode. The capacitor is configured to form a transfer capacity removing a noise included in an imaging signal and connect the pixel chip and the circuit chip to each other via the electrode and the connection portion.

A solid-state imaging device according to the present disclosure includes a photoelectric conversion film that is provided outside a semiconductor substrate on a pixel-by-pixel basis, performs photoelectric conversion on light having a predetermined wavelength range, and transmits light having wavelength ranges other than the predetermined wavelength range, and a photoelectric conversion region that is provided inside the semiconductor substrate on a pixel-by-pixel basis and performs photoelectric conversion on the light having the wavelength ranges, the light having the wavelength ranges having passed through the photoelectric conversion film. The photoelectric conversion film includes a film having an avalanche function.

A process for fabricating an optoelectronic device including an array of germanium-based photodiodes including the following steps: producing a stack of semiconductor layers, made from germanium; producing trenches; depositing a passivation intrinsic semiconductor layer, made from silicon; annealing, ensuring, for each photodiode, an interdiffusion of the silicon of the passivation semiconductor layer and of the germanium of a semiconductor portion, thus forming a peripheral zone of the semiconductor portion, made from silicon-germanium.

There is provided a solid-state image pickup device including: a semiconductor substrate; a photodiode formed in the semiconductor substrate; a transistor having a gate electrode part or all of which is embedded in the semiconductor substrate, the transistor being configured to read a signal electric charge from the photodiode via the gate electrode; and an electric charge transfer layer provided between the gate electrode and the photodiode.

A backside illuminated (BSI) image sensor comprises a semiconductor substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; a photosensitive element in the semiconductor substrate; a gate structure partially over the first surface of the semiconductor substrate; and a temporary carrier depository in proximity to the first surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the gate structure has a plug portion extending from the first surface toward the second surface. The plug portion of the gate structure helps to increase the charge transfer efficiency so as to improve quantum efficiency of the BSI image sensor.

A color filter is disposed on a substrate. An organic photodiode is disposed on the color filter. The organic photodiode includes an electrode insulating layer having a recess region on the substrate, a first electrode on the color filter, the first electrode filling the recess region of the electrode insulating layer, a second electrode on the first electrode, and an organic photoelectric conversion layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. The first electrode includes a seam extending at a first angle from a side surface of the recess region of the electrode insulating layer.