US 7411180

Patent Overview — US7411180B2

Title: Solid state image sensor with transparent film on micro-lenses and offsetting positions of micro-lenses and color filters from a central portion of a corresponding light receiving area

Assignee / Inventors: Original assignee Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.; inventors Hiroshi Sakoh, Masato Kobayashi, and Nobukazu Teranishi. The source also lists Collabo Innovations Inc. and Panasonic Holdings Corp. as current assignees (Google notes such listings may be inaccurate).

Dates: Priority date 2003-08-04; application US11/783,703 filed 2007-04-11; publication US20070187576A1 on 2007-08-16; granted and published as US7411180B2 on 2008-08-12. Status listed as "Expired – Lifetime," with anticipated expiration 2024-08-03.

Purpose: To enable shortened exit pupil distance in solid-state image sensors while reducing shading. The excerpt explains that as exit pupil distance shortens (e.g., slimmer mobile-phone and digital-still cameras), existing designs offset micro-lenses above peripheral light-receiving elements. If shortening progresses further, light collection in the peripheral portion fails and sensitivity falls toward the image edges (shading), darkening the periphery.

Plain-language scope: The sensor has multiple light-receiving elements in a light-receiving area with corresponding micro-lenses, plus a flattening film over the micro-lenses. At the center, micro-lenses sit directly above their light-receiving elements; farther from center they are progressively offset toward the center. The flattening film's refractive index is less than the micro-lenses'. Micro-lenses may be arranged in a matrix, adjoining without gaps in row and column directions. The sensor may also include in-layer lenses between micro-lenses and light-receiving elements, similarly offset progressively toward the center, with each micro-lens offset greater than its corresponding in-layer lens.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US7411180](/patent/US7411180)/en

What the excerpt does not establish: Full claim language and dependency, complete description, embodiments, drawing details, prosecution history, or the patent's ultimate legal status or enforceability. It also does not establish validity, ownership accuracy, or prior-art relationships.