Patent ID: 7446353

Claim:
A meander channel solid state imaging apparatus, comprising: a photoelectric conversion section generating a charge by photoelectric conversion; and a charge transfer section that transfers the charge generated by said photoelectric conversion section in a first direction, said charge transfer section comprising a meander channel with plural cells in a linear array extending in the first direction, each of said cells having a first transfer electrode and a second transfer electrode that each has a first side perpendicular to the first direction and a second side perpendicular to the first direction and a third side parallel to the first direction and joining said first and second sides, said first sides of said first and second transfer electrodes being collinear and said second sides of said first and second transfer electrodes being collinear, said first and second transfer electrodes each having a fourth side opposite said third side that also joins said first and second sides, said fourth sides of said first and second transfer electrodes facing each other and being spaced apart from each other to separate said first and second transfer electrodes from each other, and a semiconductor region beneath said cells and an element separation region in said semiconductor region that defines a charge transfer channel, said element separation region having projections extending from said third side less than one half a length of said cells measured perpendicular to the first direction, wherein said fourth side is longer than said third side, wherein said fourth side in each of said plural cells is transverse to said fourth side of an adjacent one of said cells so that said fourth sides define a zig-zag pattern extending across said plural cells in the first direction, and wherein said element separation region extends to said fourth side so that a width of the charge transfer channel increases from said third side to said fourth side.