A semiconductor device includes a substrate, light sensing devices, at least one infrared radiation sensing device, a transparent insulating layer, an infrared radiation cut layer, a color filter layer and an infrared radiation color filter layer. The light sensing devices and the at least one infrared radiation sensing device are disposed in the substrate and are adjacent to each other. The transparent insulating layer is disposed on the substrate overlying the light sensing devices and the at least one infrared radiation sensing device. The infrared radiation cut layer is disposed on the transparent insulating layer overlying the light sensing devices for filtering out infrared radiation and/or near infrared radiation. The color filter layer is disposed on the infrared radiation cut layer. The infrared radiation color filter layer is disposed on the transparent insulating layer overlying the at least one infrared radiation sensing device.

A solid-state imaging device includes a semiconductor substrate; and a pixel unit having a plurality of pixels on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the pixel unit includes first pixel groups having two or more pixels and second pixel groups being different from the first pixel groups, wherein a portion of the pixels in the first pixel groups and a portion of the pixels in the second pixel groups share a floating diffusion element.

In a solid-state imaging device including a plurality of pixels each pixel including a plurality of photodiodes, it is prevented that an incidence angle of incident light on the solid-state imaging device becomes large in a pixel in an end of the solid-state imaging device, causing a difference in output between the two photodiodes in the pixel, and thus autofocus detection accuracy is deteriorated. Photodiodes extending in a longitudinal direction of a pixel allay section are provided in each pixel. The photodiodes in the pixel are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the pixel allay section.

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.

A system and method for forming pixels in an image sensor is provided. In an embodiment, a semiconductor device includes an image sensor including a first pixel region and a second pixel region in a substrate, the first pixel region being adjacent to the second pixel region. A first anti-reflection coating is over the first pixel region, the first anti-reflection coating reducing reflection for a first wavelength range of incident light. A second anti-reflection coating is over the second pixel region, the second anti-reflection coating reducing reflection for a second wavelength range of incident light that is different from the first wavelength range.

A pixel electrode includes a first electrode, a second electrode arranged so as to face the first electrode in a first direction, and a third electrode. A counter electrode is provided in an upper portion of the pixel electrode, and a photoelectric conversion layer is arranged so as to be sandwiched by the pixel electrode and the counter electrode. A length of the third electrode in a predetermined direction is shorter than a length of the first electrode and a length of the second electrode.

An imaging device has: a pixel unit including a first pixel and second pixels arranged around the first pixel and adapted to provide more brightness information than is provided by the first pixel; a directional property determination unit that determines a direction of an intensity distribution based on differences of the values of the second pixels; a correlation value calculation unit that calculates a correlation value of the values of the second pixels; and an interpolation processing unit that, when the correlation value is greater than a threshold based on a noise signal intensity in the values of the second pixels, interpolates a value of the first pixel that is based on the direction of the intensity distribution from the values of the second pixels and, otherwise, interpolates the value of the first pixel from the values of the second pixels without depending on the direction of the intensity distribution.

An image sensor pixel the conformist single pixel of a larger array. The image sensor pixel can be a large one, such as larger than 100 m. The image sensor pixel has readout notes on multiple sides thereof, e.g. on to work for sides, that are symmetrically located on the pixel. The readout notes are simultaneously read out to read out a part of the image from the pixel.

To provide an imaging device equipped with a photodiode, which is capable of enhancing both of a capacity and sensitivity. In an area of a P-type well in which a photodiode is formed, a P-type impurity region is formed from the surface of the P-type well to a predetermined depth. Further, an N-type impurity region is formed to extend to a deeper position. N-type impurity regions and P-type impurity regions respectively extending in a gate width direction from a lower part of the N-type impurity region to a deeper position so as to contact the N-type impurity region are alternately arranged in a plural form along a gate length direction in a form to contact each other.

An imaging device with excellent imaging performance is provided. An imaging device that easily performs imaging under a low illuminance condition is provided. A low power consumption imaging device is provided. An imaging device with small variations in characteristics between its pixels is provided. A highly integrated imaging device is provided. A photoelectric conversion element includes a first electrode, and a first layer, a second layer, and a third layer. The first layer is provided between the first electrode and the third layer. The second layer is provided between the first layer and the third layer. The first layer contains selenium. The second layer contains a metal oxide. The third layer contains a metal oxide and also contains at least one of a rare gas atom, phosphorus, and boron. The selenium may be crystalline selenium. The second layer may be a layer of an InGaZn oxide including c-axis-aligned crystals.