Patent ID: 7884434

Claim:
A photoelectric conversion apparatus produced by a method comprising steps of: forming a plurality of wiring layers through an interlayer insulation layer on a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements arranged thereon; forming an opening part of the interlayer insulation layer corresponding to a photoelectric conversion element; and forming an optical wave guide by filling the opening part with a high refractive index material having a higher refractive index than the interlayer insulation layer, wherein the step of forming the opening part of the interlayer insulation layer includes: forming a photoresist on the interlayer insulation layer; patterning the photoresist to form a photoresist pattern; transforming the photoresist pattern by a reflow process; and forming the opening part by selectively etching a part of the interlayer insulation layer using the transformed photoresist pattern as a mask, wherein an area of a cross section parallel to a photoreceiving plane of the photoelectric conversion element in the opening part increases as the cross section approaches a light-incident plane of the high refractive index region from the photoreceiving plane of the photoelectric conversion element, wherein the area of the cross section increases at a continuously increasing rate, and wherein, in a cross section perpendicular to the photoreceiving plane of the photoelectric conversion element, a side wall of the opening part has a continuous curve.