The present technology relates to techniques of preventing intrusion of moisture into a chip. Various illustrative embodiments include image sensors that include: a substrate; a plurality of layers stacked on the substrate; the plurality of layers including a photodiode layer having a plurality of photodiodes formed on a surface of the photodiode layer; the plurality of layers including at least one layer having a groove formed such that a portion of the at least one layer is excavated; and a transparent resin layer formed above the photodiode layer and formed in the groove. The present technology can be applied to, for example, an 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.

A solid-state imaging device includes a first and second pixel regions. In the first pixel region, a photoelectric conversion unit, a floating diffusion region (FD), and a transferring transistor are provided. In the second pixel region, an amplifying transistor, and a resetting transistor are provided. A first element isolation portion is provided in the first pixel region, while a second element isolation portion is provided in the second pixel region. An amount of protrusion of an insulating film into a semiconductor substrate in the first element isolation portion is smaller, than that in the second element isolation portion.

The sensor chip stack comprises a sensor substrate of a semiconductor material including a sensor, a chip fastened to the sensor substrate, the chip including an integrated circuit, electric interconnections between the sensor substrate and the chip, electric terminals of the chip, the chip being arranged between the electric terminals and the sensor substrate, and a molding material arranged adjacent to the chip, the electric terminals of the chip being free from the molding material.

Some embodiments provide a color image sensor and color image sampling method that uses multiple-layer pixels and is capable of producing color images without using absorption color filters (e.g., such as employed in conventional CFAs). In accordance with some embodiments of the color image sensor device and color image sampling method, frequency-dependent reflectors are incorporated between the photodetection layers of multiple-layer (e.g., two layer) pixels.

A radiation detector includes a substrate, a plurality of device sections each disposed separately from the substrate and each including a photoelectric conversion device, a buried layer formed in a region between the device sections, and a wavelength conversion layer that is formed on the plurality of device sections and converts entered radiation into light. Any of the device sections includes a first surface that faces the wavelength conversion layer, and a second surface that faces the substrate, and an upper end of the buried layer is disposed at a position higher than the second surface of the any of the device sections.

An optical sensor including a first material layer comprising at least a first material; a second material layer comprising at least a second material that is different from the first material, where a material bandgap of the first material is larger than a material bandgap of the second material; and a graded material layer arranged between the first material layer and the second material layer, the graded material layer comprising an alloy of at least the first material and the second material having compositions of the second material that vary along a direction that is from the first material to the second material.

An imaging device includes a pixel region in which a plurality of pixels, each including a photoelectric converter, are arranged, including an effective pixel region, an optical black region covered with a light-shielding film, and a dummy pixel region arranged between the effective pixel region and the optical black region. The pixels arranged in at least the effective pixel region and the optical black region among the plurality of the pixels each include an optical waveguide arranged above the photoelectric converter. The pixels including the optical waveguides are arranged between the effective pixel region and the optical black region so as to be spaced apart from each other by at least a one-pixel pitch.

An optical sensor includes a substrate having a plurality of first light receiving elements in a surface, and a light blocking film having a plurality of first openings. The first light receiving elements are provided such that a direction of travel of incident light defined by each of the first openings is different from a thickness direction of the substrate and form at least one light receiving element set in which an angle of incidence defined between the direction of travel of the incident light and the thickness direction is the same with respect to the light receiving elements. In a view projected in the thickness direction, a positional relationship between the first light receiving elements included in a light receiving element set and the corresponding first openings has rotational symmetry of order 3 or more about an axis along the thickness direction.

A photoelectric conversion apparatus includes pixels having adjacent first and second pixels. The pixels each include, in a semiconductor layer of a substrate, a photoelectric conversion portion that generates charges, a charge holding portion that holds the charges, and a floating diffusion layer that converts the charges into a voltage. At least parts of the charge holding portion in the first pixel and the floating diffusion layer in the second pixel, parts of the charge holding portion in the first pixel and the charge holding portion in the second pixel, and/or parts of the floating diffusion layer in the first pixel and the floating diffusion layer in the second pixel overlap each other without physically touching each other in a depth direction of the substrate in a state where a region for separating the at least parts of the charge holding portions and the floating diffusion layers is provided therebetween.