Patent ID: 8704935

Claim:
An image sensor comprising: a first plurality of image sensing pixels; centering structures, each of which is located above a respective one of the image sensing pixels of the first plurality of image sensing pixels; a first set of lenses, each of which is located above a respective one of the image sensing pixels of the first plurality of image sensing pixels and each of which is associated with a respective one of the centering structures, wherein the first set of lenses is formed by at least partially melting material over the centering structures such that each of the centering structures is incorporated into the lens associated with that alignment structure; a second plurality of image sensing pixels, wherein each of the imaging pixels of the first plurality of image sensing pixels is adjacent to four respective imaging pixels of the second plurality of image sensing pixels, wherein each of the imaging pixels of the second plurality of image sensing pixels is adjacent to four respective imaging pixels of the first plurality of image sensing pixels, and wherein the first set of lenses comprises a first set of microlenses, each of which focuses incident light on a single image sensing pixel of the first plurality of image sensing pixels; and a second set of microlenses, each of which focuses incident light on a single image sensing pixel of the second plurality of image sensing pixels, wherein the centering structures are formed from first materials that have been deposited onto the image sensor and subjected to a first reflow process, wherein the second set of microlenses are formed from second materials that have been deposited onto the image sensor and subjected to the first reflow process, and wherein the first and second materials are both deposited before the first and second materials are subjected to the first reflow process.