Patent ID: 8822980

Claim:
A photoelectric conversion element comprising a photoelectric conversion portion which includes: a pair of electrodes including an electron-collecting electrode and a hole-collecting electrode; and a photoelectric conversion layer between the pair of electrodes, wherein the photoelectric conversion layer contains two layers, each of which is continuous across the extent of the layer, including a mixture layer of a p-type organic semiconductor and a fullerene, and the volume ratio of the fullerene to the p-type organic semiconductor in the photoelectric conversion layer is such that the volume ratio on the side of the electron-collecting electrode is smaller than the volume ratio on the side of the hole-collecting electrode, said photoelectric conversion element further comprising: a semiconductor substrate above which the photoelectric conversion portion is stacked; a charge accumulating portion within the semiconductor substrate which accumulates charges generated in the photoelectric conversion layer of the photoelectric conversion portion; a connecting portion which electrically connects to the charge accumulating portion one of the pair of electrodes of the photoelectric conversion portion for collecting the charges; and an intra-substrate photoelectric conversion portion within the semiconductor substrate which absorbs light transmitted through the photoelectric conversion layer of the photoelectric conversion portion, generates charges in proportion to an amount of the light, and accumulates the charges.