Solid-state imaging array including focusing elements

Claim 1

A solid-state imaging device comprising: a semiconductor substrate; an element part including a plurality of light responsive elements for generating change carriers in response to incident light and a transfer part for transferring the charge carriers generated in each light responsive element, said element part and said transfer part being incorporated in said semiconductor substrate; a lens layer disposed on said element part and including convex lenses for collecting incident light into respective light responsive elements; and a light beam dispersion layer disposed between said lens layer and said element part and including light transmissive layers having respective refractive indices for dispersing light collected by said lenses so that collected light entering respective light responsive elements is closer to a parallel beam than is the incident light wherein said light beam dispersion layer includes a light incident side light transmissive layer having a first refractive index, a light output side light transmissive layer having a second refractive index, and an intermediate light transmissive layer having a third refractive index larger than both the first and the second refractive indices, said light incident side light transmissive layer contacting said intermediate light transmissive layer at a planar interface, and said intermediate light transmissive layer contacting said light output side light transmissive layer at a non, planar interface including a convex lens opposite a light responsive element.