Patent ID: 9653622
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: H01L

Claim:
1. An image pickup apparatus comprising: a plurality of photoelectric conversion units each including a first-conductivity-type first semiconductor region configured to accumulate a signal charge and disposed in contact with a second-conductivity-type semiconductor region; a potential barrier formed between photoelectric conversion units included in the plurality of photoelectric conversion units; and a plurality of contact plugs which are disposed in an image sensing area and configured to supply a voltage to the second-conductivity-type semiconductor region, the plurality of photoelectric conversion units being disposed in the image sensing area, wherein a number of contact plugs is smaller than a number of photoelectric conversion units included in the plurality of photoelectric conversion units, the plurality of photoelectric conversion units include a first photoelectric conversion unit (PCU) and a second PCU, both configured to receive light of a first color and a third PCU configured to receive light of a second color, the first, second, and third PCUs are arranged respectively in a line in a first direction, the first and second PCUs are adjacent to each other in a first direction, the second and third PCUs are adjacent to each other in the first direction, the potential barrier includes a first part formed between the first and second PCUs and the potential barrier includes a second part formed between the second and third PCUs, and a distance from a contact plug of the plurality of contact plugs to the first part of the potential barrier is smaller than a distance from the contact plug to the second part of the potential barrier.