Patent ID: 6876049

Claim:
A solid-state color imaging device comprising: a semiconductor substrate having a matrix of pn-junction photodiodes formed thereon; a patterned photoshield layer formed over said matrix of photodiodes; a passivation coating encapsulating said patterned photoshield layer; an optional first optically transparent planarizing encapsulant layer formed on said passivation coating; a first patterned color filter layer registered with a subset of said photodiodes (color pixels) formed upon said optional first optically transparent planarizing encapsulant layer or directly on said passivation coating; a second patterned color filter layer in mutual registration with said first color filter layer and a second complementary subset of said photodiodes (color pixels) formed on said first patterned color filter layer; a third patterned color filter layer in mutual registration with said first and second color filter layers and a third complementary subset of said photodiodes (color pixels) formed on said second patterned color filter layer; and an index-matching planarizing encapsulant layer formed on said third patterned color filter layer wherein said layers over said pn-junction photodiodes and photoshields are contoured by photolithographic design and/or microelectronic processing, such as reactive ion etching, to produce a specific pixel surface shape in conjunction with the desired spectral and optical properties of said color filter layer(s) and planarizing encapsulant layer(s) formed thereon, thereby providing a method for controlling geometric dimensions, photodiode registration, and concave lens-like imaging properties of a refractive index boundary comprising said specific pixel surface shape.