Patent ID: 8759933

Claim:
A solid-state image pickup element, comprising: a semiconductor substrate; a pixel portion on the semiconductor substrate and in which a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion portion are arranged; an anti-reflection layer covering the semiconductor substrate and being disposed above a gate electrode of each pixel; a first insulating layer covering the gate electrode and being interposed between the gate electrode and the anti-reflection layer, the first insulating layer being disposed directly on the gate electrode and the anti-reflection layer being disposed directly on the first insulating layer; a second insulating layer disposed directly on the anti-reflection layer; a plurality of insulating layers that are separate from the first and second insulating layers and that are on the second insulating layer; a hole portion formed in the plurality of insulating layers and the second insulating layer, the hole portion penetrating through the second layer down to the anti-reflection layer and being respectively provided above each photoelectric conversion portion, wherein the hole portion has an aspect ratio of about 1 or greater; a silicon nitride layer formed so as to cover a bottom surface and a side surface of the hole portion, the side surface having a top end and a bottom end, wherein the silicon nitride layer is formed by performing a first process and a second process sequentially and alternatively in any order, wherein the first process forms a silicon nitride layer by utilizing an atomic layer deposition method, and the second process forms a silicon nitride layer by utilizing a plasma chemical vapor deposition method, wherein the first process and the second process are alternately laminated, wherein at least one of the first process and the second process is performed more than once, wherein the atomic layer deposition deposits a set of atomic layers wherein each of the atomic layers in the hole portion has a thickness between about 0.6 to about 1.2 angstrom of silicon nitride; and a buried layer formed on the silicon nitride layer, wherein a thickness of the silicon nitride layer is substantially the same at the top end and at the bottom end.