Patent ID: 7465598

Claim:
A method for fabricating a solid-state imaging device including a plurality of pixels two-dimensionally arrayed in a well region disposed in a semiconductor substrate, each pixel including a photoelectric conversion section having a charge accumulation region which accumulates signal charge, the method comprising the steps of: forming an element isolation region over a top planar surface of the well region, the element isolation region electrically isolating the individual pixels from each other, a bottom surface of the element isolation region directly contacting the top planar surface of the well region; forming a diffusion region so as to surround the individual charge accumulation regions and electrically isolate the individual pixels from each other, the diffusion region beneath the element isolation region; and forming the photoelectric conversion section for each pixel in the well region such that the photoelectric conversion sections are electrically isolated from each other via the element isolation region and the diffusion region, wherein the width of the diffusion region is less than the width of the respective element isolation region formed thereover; and wherein the photoelectric conversion section formation step includes the substeps of: implanting ions of an impurity for forming each charge accumulation region in the well region; and thermally diffusing the impurity implanted in the well region by the ion implantation substep to form each charge accumulation region so that a portion of the charge accumulation region extends directly below a portion of the bottom surface of the element isolation region and is brought in contact with or in close proximity to the diffusion region.