CN110087870B

CN110087870B - Laminated lens structure, method of manufacturing the same, and electronic apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN110087870B
Application number: CN201880005184.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 山本笃志; 泷本香织
Original assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp
Current assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp
Priority date: 2017-01-26
Filing date: 2018-01-16
Publication date: 2022-03-18
Anticipated expiration: 2038-01-16
Also published as: CN110087870A; WO2018139253A1

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to suppress the occurrence of chipping and cracking in a substrate of a laminated lens structure. The laminated lens structure includes lens-equipped substrates each having a lens disposed inside a through hole formed in the substrate and laminated to each other by direct bonding, wherein each substrate is provided with a through groove penetrating the substrate in the vicinity of the outer periphery thereof. For example, the present technology is applicable to a multi-view camera module.

Description

Laminated lens structure, method of manufacturing the same, and electronic apparatus

Technical Field

The present technology relates to a laminated lens structure, a method of manufacturing the same, and an electronic apparatus. In particular, the present technology relates to a laminated lens structure in which generation of chipping or cracking in a substrate of the laminated lens structure can be suppressed, a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic apparatus.

Background

The wafer level lens process in which a plurality of lenses are arranged in the plane direction of a wafer substrate involves strict requirements for shape accuracy and position accuracy in forming the lenses. In particular, the difficulty of the process of manufacturing a laminated lens structure by laminating wafer substrates on each other is very high, and lamination of three or more substrates has not been achieved in mass production.

With respect to wafer-level lens processes, various techniques have been devised and proposed so far. For example, patent document 1 proposes a method in which a lens is formed by filling a through hole formed in a substrate with a lens material, which itself directly serves as an adhesive, thereby laminating wafer substrates.

[ list of cited documents ]

[ patent document ]

[PTL 1]JP 2009-279790A

Disclosure of Invention

[ problem ] to

In the singulation of the laminated lens structure in which a plurality of substrates with lenses are laminated, it is necessary to prevent chipping and avoid generation of cracks in the substrates in, for example, a drop test of a module in which the laminated lens structure is incorporated.

The present technology has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present technology is to make it possible to suppress the generation of chipping or cracking in a substrate of a laminated lens structure.

[ solution of problem ]

A laminated lens substrate according to an aspect of the present technology includes: a first lens substrate including a first lens in the first through hole; a second lens substrate including a second lens in the second through hole, the second lens substrate being laminated on the first lens substrate; and a groove portion penetrating the first lens substrate and the second lens substrate in a cross-sectional view, wherein the first through-hole is disposed between at least two groove portions in a plan view.

A method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure according to an aspect of the present technology includes: disposing a first lens in the first through hole of the first lens substrate; disposing a second lens in a second through hole of a second lens substrate; laminating a first lens substrate on a second lens substrate; a groove portion formed through the first lens substrate and the second lens substrate in a cross-sectional view, wherein the first through-hole is arranged between at least two groove portions in a plan view; and cutting the laminated substrate along the cutting line.

A method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure according to an aspect of the present technology includes: bonding a plurality of lens substrates to each other by direct bonding, each of the plurality of lens substrates including a lens arranged inside a through-hole formed in each lens substrate; forming a groove portion along the cutting line; and cutting the plurality of lens substrates along cutting lines.

An electronic device according to an aspect of the present technology includes: a laminated lens substrate comprising: a first lens substrate including a first lens in the first through hole, a second lens substrate including a second lens in the second through hole, the second lens substrate being laminated on the first lens substrate, and groove portions penetrating the first lens substrate and the second lens substrate in a cross-sectional view, wherein the first through hole is arranged between at least two groove portions in a plan view; and an image sensor corresponding to the first through hole.

The laminated lens structure and the electronic device may be separate apparatuses or may be a module to be incorporated into another apparatus.

[ advantageous effects of the invention ]

According to the first to fourth aspects of the present technology, it is possible to suppress the generation of chipping or cracking in the substrate of the laminated lens structure.

Note that the effect described here is not necessarily restrictive, and the effect of the present disclosure may be any one of the effects described herein.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of a camera module using a stacked lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram showing the laminated lens structure disclosed in patent document 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional structure view illustrating a layered lens structure of the camera module shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating direct bonding of substrates with lenses.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing steps of forming the camera module shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing steps of forming the camera module shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating another step of forming the camera module shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of a camera module using a stacked lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 10 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of a camera module using a stacked lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 11 is a diagram showing a fourth embodiment of a camera module using a stacked lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 12 is a diagram showing a fifth embodiment of a camera module using a layered lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 13 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a camera module according to the fourth embodiment.

Fig. 14 is a plan view and a sectional view of the support substrate and the lens resin portion.

Fig. 15 is a sectional view showing a laminated lens structure and an aperture plate.

Fig. 16 is a diagram showing a sixth embodiment of a camera module using a stacked lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 17 is a diagram showing a seventh embodiment of a camera module using a stacked lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 18 is a sectional view showing a detailed configuration of the substrate with a lens.

Fig. 19 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 20 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 21 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 22 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 23 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 24 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 25 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 26 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 27 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 28 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 29 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a substrate with a lens.

Fig. 30 is a diagram illustrating bonding of substrates with lenses in a substrate state.

Fig. 31 is a diagram illustrating bonding of substrates with lenses in a substrate state.

Fig. 32 is a diagram illustrating a first lamination method for laminating 5 substrates with lenses in a substrate state.

Fig. 33 is a diagram illustrating a second lamination method for laminating 5 substrates with lenses in a substrate state.

Fig. 34 is a diagram showing an eighth embodiment of a camera module using a stacked lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 35 is a diagram showing a ninth embodiment of a camera module using a layered lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 36 is a diagram showing a tenth embodiment of a camera module using a stacked lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 37 is a diagram showing an eleventh embodiment of a camera module using a stacked lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 38 is a cross-sectional view of a wafer level laminated structure as comparative structure example 1.

Fig. 39 is a cross-sectional view of a lens array substrate as comparative configuration example 2.

Fig. 40 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the lens array substrate shown in fig. 39.

Fig. 41 is a cross-sectional view of a lens array substrate as comparative configuration example 3.

Fig. 42 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the lens array substrate shown in fig. 41.

Fig. 43 is a cross-sectional view of a lens array substrate as comparative configuration example 4.

Fig. 44 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the lens array substrate shown in fig. 43.

Fig. 45 is a cross-sectional view of a lens array substrate as comparative configuration example 5.

Fig. 46 is a diagram for explaining the action provided by the resin serving as the lens.

Fig. 47 is a diagram for explaining the action provided by the resin serving as the lens.

Fig. 48 is a schematic view showing a lens array substrate as comparative structural example 6.

Fig. 49 is a cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure as comparative structural example 7.

Fig. 50 is a diagram illustrating an effect provided by the laminated lens structure shown in fig. 49.

Fig. 51 is a cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure as comparative structural example 8.

Fig. 52 is a diagram illustrating an effect provided by the laminated lens structure shown in fig. 51.

Fig. 53 is a cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure employing this structure.

Fig. 54 is a schematic diagram illustrating the laminated lens structure illustrated in fig. 53.

Fig. 55 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 56 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 55.

Fig. 57 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 55.

Fig. 58 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 55.

Fig. 59 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 60 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 59.

Fig. 61 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 59.

Fig. 62 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 59.

Fig. 63 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 64 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 63.

Fig. 65 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 63.

Fig. 66 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 63.

Fig. 67 is a diagram illustrating a first modification of the method for manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 63.

Fig. 68 is a diagram illustrating a second modification of the method for manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 63.

Fig. 69 is a diagram illustrating a third modification of the method for manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 63.

Fig. 70 is a diagram illustrating a third modification of the method for manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 63.

Fig. 71 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the width and depth of the groove and the blade width.

Fig. 72 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the width and depth of the groove and the blade width.

Fig. 73 is a sectional view of a laminated lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 74 is a cross-sectional view of the substrate state before singulation of the laminated lens structure of fig. 73.

Fig. 75 is a plan view of a lensed substrate for odd and even layers.

Fig. 76 is a cross-sectional view of a state of the substrate before singulation of the laminated lens structure of fig. 73.

Fig. 77 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 78 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 77.

Fig. 79 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 77.

Fig. 80 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 77.

Fig. 81 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure of fig. 77.

Fig. 82 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a first modification of the laminated lens structure of fig. 77.

Fig. 83 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a second modification of the laminated lens structure of fig. 77.

Fig. 84 is a cross-sectional view of a state of the substrate before singulation of the laminated lens structure of fig. 83.

Fig. 85 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an imaging device as an electronic apparatus to which the present technology is applied.

Fig. 86 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the in-vivo information acquisition system.

Fig. 87 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an endoscopic surgery system.

Fig. 88 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configurations of the camera and the CCU.

Fig. 89 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the vehicle control system.

Fig. 90 is an explanatory view showing an example of the mounting positions of the vehicle exterior information detecting portion and the imaging portion.

Detailed Description

Next, a form for implementing the present technology (hereinafter referred to as an embodiment) will be described. Note that the description will be made in the following order.

1. First embodiment of camera module

2. Second embodiment of Camera Module

3. Third embodiment of camera Module

4. Fourth embodiment of Camera Module

5. Fifth embodiment of camera Module

6. Detailed constitution of camera module of the fourth embodiment

7. Sixth embodiment of camera Module

8. Seventh embodiment of camera Module

9. Detailed constitution of substrate with lens

10. Method for manufacturing substrate with lens

11. Direct bonding between substrates with lenses

12. Eighth and ninth embodiments of camera module

13. Tenth embodiment of camera module

14. Eleventh embodiment of camera module

15. The effect of the structure is compared with other structures

16. Various modifications

17. Application example of electronic device

18. Application example of in-vivo information acquisition system

19. Application example of endoscopic surgery System

20. Application example of Mobile body

<1. first embodiment of Camera Module >

A of fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a camera module 1A as a first embodiment of the camera module 1. B of fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the camera module 1A.

The camera module 1A includes a laminated lens structure 11 and a light receiving element 12. The laminated lens structure 11 includes 25 optical units 13 in total, and 5 optical units in the longitudinal and lateral directions, respectively. The optical unit 13 includes a plurality of lenses 21 in one optical axis direction. The camera module 1A is a multi-view camera module having a plurality of optical units 13.

As shown in B of fig. 1, the plurality of optical units 13 included in the camera module 1A are configured such that the optical axis expands toward the outside of the module. Thereby, a wide-angle image can be captured.

Note that in B of fig. 1, the laminated lens structure 11 is a structure in which only three layers of lenses 21 are laminated for the sake of simplicity, but naturally more lenses 21 may be laminated.

The camera module 1A shown in fig. 1 is capable of producing one wide-angle image by combining a plurality of images captured via a plurality of optical units 13. In order to combine a plurality of images, high accuracy is required to form and lay out the optical unit 13 configured to capture an image. In addition, in particular, since the optical unit 13 on the wide-angle side has light of a small angle incident on the lens 21, high accuracy is required for the positional relationship and layout of the lens 21 within the optical unit 13.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram showing a laminated lens structure using a resin-based fixing technique disclosed in patent document 1.

In the laminated lens structure 500 shown in fig. 2, as a method of fixing the substrate 512 including the lens 511, a resin 513 is used. The resin 513 is an energy curable resin such as a UV curable resin.

Before the substrates 512 are attached together, a layer of resin 513 is formed on the entire surface of the substrates 512. After that, the substrates 512 are attached together, and the resin 513 is cured. Thus, the bonded substrates 512 are fixed together.

However, when the resin 513 is cured, the resin 513 undergoes curing shrinkage. In the case of the structure shown in fig. 2, since the resin 513 is cured after forming a layer of the resin 513 on the entire surface of the substrate 512, the amount of displacement of the resin 513 is large.

Further, even after the laminated lens structure 500 formed by attaching the substrates 512 together is singulated and the imaging elements are combined to form a camera module, in the laminated lens structure 500 included in the camera module, a resin 513 is provided in the entire space between the substrates 512 including the lenses 511, as shown in fig. 2. Thus, when the camera module is mounted in the housing of the camera and is actually used, there is a problem in that the resin between the substrates of the laminated lens structure 500 may undergo thermal expansion due to a temperature increase caused by heat generated from the device.

Fig. 3 is a sectional configuration diagram showing only the laminated lens structure 11 of the camera module 1A shown in fig. 1.

The laminated lens structure 11 of the camera module 1A is also formed by laminating a plurality of lens-attached substrates 41 having the lenses 21.

In the laminated lens structure 11 of the camera module 1A, as a method of fixing the lens-attached substrates 41 having the lenses 21 together, a fixing method completely different from the laminated lens structure 500 shown in fig. 2 or other conventional techniques is used.

Specifically, the two lensed substrates 41 to be laminated are directly bonded by covalent bonds between the surface layer of oxide or nitride formed on the surface of one substrate and the surface layer of oxide or nitride formed on the surface of the other substrate. As a specific example, as shown in fig. 4, a silicon oxide layer or a silicon nitride layer as a surface layer is formed on the surfaces of two lens-equipped substrates 41 to be laminated, and a hydroxyl group is bonded to the surface layer. Thereafter, the two substrates 41 with lenses are bonded together, and heated and subjected to dehydration condensation. As a result, a silicon-oxygen covalent bond is formed between the surface layers of the two lensed substrates 41. Thus, the two lensed substrates 41 are directly bonded. Note that as a result of condensation, each element contained in the two surface layers may directly form a covalent bond.

Here, as described above, the direct bonding means that the two lensed substrates 41 are fixed via the layer of the inorganic substance provided between the two lensed substrates 41, the two lensed substrates 41 are fixed by chemically bonding layers of inorganic substances disposed on the surfaces of the two lensed substrates 41, the two lensed substrates 41 are fixed by forming a bond based on dehydration condensation between the layers of the inorganic substance disposed on the surfaces of the two lensed substrates 41, the two lensed substrates 41 are immobilized by forming an oxygen-based covalent bond between layers of the inorganic substance disposed on the surfaces of the two lensed substrates 41 or a covalent bond between elements contained in the layers of the inorganic substance, or the two lensed substrates 41 may be fixed by forming a silicon-oxygen covalent bond or a silicon-silicon covalent bond between silicon oxide layers or silicon nitride layers disposed on the surfaces of the two lensed substrates 41.

In order to perform bonding and dehydration condensation by temperature increase, in this embodiment, a substrate used in the field of manufacturing semiconductor devices and flat panel display devices is used, and bonding and dehydration condensation by temperature increase are performed in the substrate state, and therefore, bonding by covalent bond is performed in the substrate state, since a lens is formed in the substrate state. The structure in which the layers of the inorganic substance formed on the surfaces of the two lens-fitted substrates 41 are joined by covalent bonding has the following actions or effects: deformation due to curing shrinkage of the resin 513 in the entire surface area of the substrate and deformation due to thermal expansion of the resin 513 in actual use are suppressed, which is a problem that may occur when the technique illustrated in fig. 2 disclosed in patent document 1 is used.

Fig. 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating a step of combining the laminated lens structure 11 and the light receiving element 12 to form the camera module 1A illustrated in fig. 1.

First, as shown in fig. 5, a plurality of lensed substrates 41W on which a plurality of lenses 21 (not shown) are formed in the planar direction are prepared and laminated together. Thus, a laminated lens structure 11W in a substrate state in which a plurality of lensed substrates 41W in a substrate state are laminated is obtained.

Next, as shown in fig. 6, a sensor substrate 43W in a substrate state in which a plurality of light receiving elements 12 are formed in a planar direction is prepared separately from the laminated lens structure 11W in a substrate state shown in fig. 5.

Then, the sensor substrate 43W in the substrate state and the laminated lens structure 11W in the substrate state are laminated, and external terminals are connected to the respective modules of the bonded substrate to obtain the camera module 44W in the substrate state.

Finally, the camera module 44W in the substrate state is singulated in module units or chip units. The singulated camera module 44 is packaged in a separately prepared housing (not shown), thereby obtaining a final camera module 44.

Note that in this specification and the drawings, for example, a component denoted by the reference numeral "W" such as the substrate 41W with a lens is added in a state where the component is in a substrate state (wafer state), and a component denoted by the reference numeral "W" absent such as the substrate 41 with a lens is in a state where the component is singulated in a module unit or a chip unit. This also applies to other items such as the sensor substrate 43W and the camera module 44W.

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing another step of combining the laminated lens structure 11 and the light receiving element 12 to form the camera module 1A shown in fig. 1.

First, in the same manner as in the above-described steps, the laminated lens structure 11W in a substrate state obtained by laminating a plurality of lensed substrates 41W in a substrate state is manufactured.

Next, the laminated lens structure 11W in the substrate state is singulated.

Further, a sensor substrate 43W in a substrate state is prepared separately from the laminated lens structure 11W in a substrate state.

The monolithic laminated lens structures 11 are mounted one by one on each light receiving element 12 of the sensor substrate 43W in a substrate state.

Finally, the sensor substrate 43W in the substrate state on which the singulated laminated lens structure 11 is mounted is singulated in a module unit or a chip unit. The singulated sensor substrate 43 on which the laminated lens structure 11 is mounted is packaged in a separately prepared housing (not shown), and external terminals are connected thereto to obtain a final camera module 44.

Further, as an example of another step of combining the laminated lens structure 11 and the light receiving elements 12 to form the camera module 1A shown in fig. 1, the sensor substrate 43W in the substrate state shown in fig. 7 may be singulated, and the singulated laminated lens structure 11 may be mounted on each light receiving element 12 obtained as a result of the singulation to obtain a singulated camera module 44.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of the substrate 41 with lens of the camera module 1A.

A of fig. 8 is the same schematic view as a of fig. 1, showing the configuration of the camera module 1A.

B of fig. 8 is the same schematic cross-sectional view of the camera module 1A as B of fig. 1.

As shown in B of fig. 8, the camera module 1A is a multi-view camera module in which a plurality of lenses 21 are formed in combination and a plurality of optical units 13 having one optical axis are provided. The laminated lens structure 11 includes 25 optical units 13 in total, and 5 optical units in the longitudinal and lateral directions, respectively.

In the camera module 1A, the plurality of optical units 13 are configured such that the optical axis expands toward the outside of the module. Thereby, a wide-angle image can be captured. In B of fig. 8, the laminated lens structure 11 has a structure in which only three layers of the lensed substrates 41 are laminated for the sake of simplicity, but naturally more lensed substrates 41 may be laminated.

Fig. 8C to E are diagrams showing the planar shape of the three-layer lens substrate 41 forming the laminated lens structure 11.

Fig. 8C is a plan view of the uppermost lens-equipped substrate 41 among the three layers, fig. 8D is a plan view of the intermediate lens-equipped substrate 41, and fig. 8E is a plan view of the lowermost lens-equipped substrate 41. Since the camera module 1 is a multi-view wide-angle camera module, in an upper layer among the layers, the diameter of the lens 21 becomes large and the interval between the lenses becomes wide.

Fig. 8F to H are plan views of the substrate 41W with lenses in a substrate state, and are used to obtain the substrates 41 with lenses shown in fig. 8C to E, respectively.

The substrate 41W with lenses shown in F of fig. 8 shows a substrate state corresponding to the substrate 41 with lenses shown in C of fig. 8, the substrate 41W with lenses shown in G of fig. 8 shows a substrate state corresponding to the substrate 41 with lenses shown in D of fig. 8, and the substrate 41W with lenses shown in H of fig. 8 shows a substrate state corresponding to the substrate 41 with lenses shown in E of fig. 8.

The substrate-state lensed substrate 41W shown in F to H of fig. 8 has a configuration in which 8 camera modules 1A shown in a of fig. 8 are obtained for one substrate.

In the lens-equipped substrates 41W of fig. 8F to H, the pitch between lenses in the lens-equipped substrates 41W of the respective module units is different between the upper lens-equipped substrate 41W and the lower lens-equipped substrate 41W. On the other hand, in each of the lens-equipped substrates 41W, the arrangement pitch of the lens-equipped substrates 41W in each module unit is constant from the upper lens-equipped substrate 41W to the lower lens-equipped substrate 41W.

<2. second embodiment of Camera Module >

A of fig. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an appearance of a camera module 1B as a second embodiment of the camera module 1. B of fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the camera module 1B.

The camera module 1B includes 2 optical units 13. The 2 optical units 13 have a configuration in which a diaphragm plate 51 is provided on the uppermost layer of the laminated lens structure 11. An opening 52 is formed in the aperture plate 51.

The camera module 1B includes 2 optical units 13, but the 2 optical units 13 have different optical parameters. That is, the camera module 1B includes two types of optical units 13 having different optical performances. The two types of optical units 13 may include, for example, an optical unit 13 having a short focal length for photographing a close view and an optical unit 13 having a long focal length for photographing a long view.

In the camera module 1B, since the optical parameters of the 2 optical units 13 are different, the number of lenses 21 of the 2 optical units 13 is different, for example, as shown in B of fig. 9. Further, in the lenses 21 on the same layer of the laminated lens structure 11 included in the 2 optical units 13, the diameter, thickness, surface shape, volume, or distance between adjacent lenses may be different. Therefore, with respect to the planar shape of the lens 21 of the camera module 1B, for example, as shown in C of fig. 9, 2 optical units 13 may have the same diameter of the lens 21, as shown in D of fig. 9, may include lenses 21 having different shapes, or, as shown in E of fig. 9, may have a structure in which one optical unit is a hollow 21X without the lens 21.

Fig. 9F to H are plan views of the substrate 41W with lenses in a substrate state, and are used to obtain the substrates 41 with lenses shown in fig. 9C to E, respectively.

The substrate 41W with lenses shown in F of fig. 9 shows a substrate state corresponding to the substrate 41 with lenses shown in C of fig. 9, the substrate 41W with lenses shown in G of fig. 9 shows a substrate state corresponding to the substrate 41 with lenses shown in D of fig. 9, and the substrate 41W with lenses shown in H of fig. 9 shows a substrate state corresponding to the substrate 41 with lenses shown in E of fig. 9.

The substrate-state lensed substrate 41W shown in F to H of fig. 9 has a configuration in which 16 camera modules 1B shown in a of fig. 9 are obtained for one substrate.

As shown in F to H of fig. 9, in order to form the camera module 1B, lenses having the same shape may be formed over the entire surface area of the substrate 41W with lenses in a substrate state, lenses having different shapes may be formed, or lenses may be formed or not formed.

<3. third embodiment of Camera Module >

A of fig. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an appearance of a camera module 1C as a third embodiment of the camera module 1. B of fig. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the camera module 1C.

The camera module 1C includes a total of 4 optical units 13 on the light incident surface, and 2 optical units in the longitudinal and lateral directions, respectively. The lenses 21 have the same shape in the 4 optical units 13.

The 4 optical units 13 include the diaphragm plate 51 on the uppermost layer of the laminated lens structure 11, but the size of the opening 52 of the diaphragm plate 51 differs between the 4 optical units 13. Thereby, the camera module 1C can realize, for example, the following camera module 1C. Specifically, for example, in the camera module 1C using the light receiving element 12 including the light receiving pixels for monitoring a color image in daytime and receiving three types of (RGB) light beams with RGB color filters and the light receiving pixels not using RGB color filters for monitoring a black-and-white image in nighttime, the crime prevention monitoring camera may increase the size of the opening of the diaphragm only in the pixels for capturing the black-and-white image in nighttime where the illuminance is low. Thus, for example, as shown in C of fig. 10, the lens 21 of one camera module 1C has a planar shape in which the lenses 21 of the 4 optical units 13 have the same diameter, and as shown in D of fig. 10, the size of the opening 52 of the diaphragm plate 51 is different depending on the optical units 13.

Fig. 10E is a plan view of the lensed substrate 41W in a substrate state for obtaining the lensed substrate 41 shown in fig. 10C. F of fig. 10 is a plan view of the diaphragm plate 51W in the substrate state for obtaining the diaphragm plate 51 shown in D of fig. 10.

The lens-equipped substrate 41W in the substrate state shown in E of fig. 10 and the diaphragm plate 51W in the substrate state shown in F of fig. 10 have a configuration in which 8 camera modules 1C shown in a of fig. 10 are obtained for one substrate.

As shown in F of fig. 10, in the aperture plate 51W in the substrate state, the opening portions 52 having different sizes may be provided in the optical units 13 of the camera module 1C to form the camera module 1C.

<4. fourth embodiment of Camera Module >

A of fig. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an appearance of a camera module 1D as a fourth embodiment of the camera module 1. B of fig. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the camera module 1D.

The camera module 1D includes 4 optical units 13 in total on the light incident surface, and 2 optical units in the longitudinal and lateral directions, respectively, similarly to the camera module 1C. In the 4 optical units 13, the lenses 21 have the same shape, and the opening portions 52 of the diaphragm plates 51 have the same size.

In the camera module 1D, the optical axes of the two optical units 13 disposed in the longitudinal and lateral directions of the light incident surface extend in the same direction. A broken line shown in B of fig. 11 indicates an optical axis of each optical unit 13. Since the camera module 1D having such a configuration utilizes the super-resolution technique, the camera module 1D is suitable for capturing a high-resolution image as compared with capturing an image using one optical unit 13.

In the camera module 1D, since an image is captured by using a plurality of light receiving elements 12 arranged at different positions (the optical axes are oriented in the same direction in both the longitudinal and transverse directions), or an image is captured by using light receiving pixels in different regions of one light receiving element 12. Therefore, while the optical axes are oriented in the same direction, a plurality of images which are not necessarily the same can be obtained. Therefore, when it is not necessary to combine the image data of the respective positions of the same plurality of images, a high-resolution image can be obtained. Thus, as shown in C of fig. 11, the lenses 21 of one camera module 1D preferably have the same planar shape in the 4 optical units 13.

Fig. 11D is a plan view of the lensed substrate 41W in a substrate state for obtaining the lensed substrate 41 shown in fig. 11C. The lensed substrate 41W in the substrate state has a configuration in which 8 camera modules 1D shown in a of fig. 11 are obtained for one substrate.

As shown in D of fig. 11, in the substrate 41W with lenses in the substrate state, in order to form the camera module 1D, the camera module 1D includes a plurality of lenses 21, and a plurality of lens groups for one module are provided on the substrate at a fixed pitch.

<5. fifth embodiment of Camera Module >

A of fig. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an appearance of a camera module 1E as a fifth embodiment of the camera module 1. B of fig. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the camera module 1E.

The camera module 1E is a monocular camera module in which an optical unit 13 having one optical axis is provided in the camera module 1E.

Fig. 12C is a plan view of the substrate 41 with a lens, showing a planar shape of the lens 21 of the camera module 1E. The camera module 1E includes one optical unit 13.

Fig. 12D is a plan view of the lensed substrate 41W in a substrate state for obtaining the lensed substrate 41 shown in fig. 12C. The substrate 41W with lenses in the substrate state has a configuration in which 32 camera modules 1E shown in a of fig. 12 are obtained for one substrate.

As shown in D of fig. 12, in the substrate 41W with lenses in the substrate state, the plurality of lenses 21 for the camera module 1E are provided on the substrate at a fixed pitch.

< 6> detailed constitution of Camera Module of the fourth embodiment >

Next, a detailed configuration of a camera module 1D according to the fourth embodiment shown in fig. 11 will be explained with reference to fig. 13.

Fig. 13 is a sectional view of the camera module 1D shown in B of fig. 11.

The camera module 1D includes a laminated lens structure 11 obtained by laminating a plurality of substrates 41a to 41e with lenses, and a light receiving element 12. The laminated lens structure 11 includes a plurality of optical units 13. The broken line 84 indicates the optical axis of the optical unit 13. The light receiving element 12 is provided below the laminated lens structure 11. In the camera module 1D, light entering the camera module 1D from above passes through the laminated lens structure 11, and the light is received by the light receiving element 12 provided on the lower side of the laminated lens structure 11.

The laminated lens structure 11 includes 5 laminated substrates 41a to 41e with lenses. When the 5 lensed substrates 41a to 41e are not particularly distinguished, they are simply referred to as the lensed substrate 41 in the specification.

The cross-sectional shape of the through hole 83 of the substrate 41 with lens constituting the laminated lens structure 11 is a so-called downwardly narrowing shape in which the opening width decreases downward (the side on which the light receiving element 12 is provided).

The diaphragm plate 51 is disposed on the laminated lens structure 11. The diaphragm plate 51 has a layer formed of a material having light absorption or light blocking properties, for example. The aperture plate 51 has an opening 52.

The light receiving element 12 includes, for example, a front-side illumination type or a back-side illumination type Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor. The on-chip lens 71 is formed on the upper side surface of the side of the laminated lens structure 11 as the light receiving element 12. An external terminal 72 for inputting and outputting a signal is formed on the lower side surface of the light receiving element 12.

The laminated lens structure 11, the light receiving element 12, the aperture plate 51, and the like are housed in the lens barrel 74.

The structural member 73 is disposed above the light receiving element 12. The laminated lens structure 11 and the light receiving element 12 are fixed by a structural member 73. The structural member 73 is, for example, an epoxy resin.

In the present embodiment, the laminated lens structure 11 includes 5 lens-fitted substrates 41a to 41e laminated. However, there is no particular limitation as long as the number of the laminated substrates 41 with lenses is two or more.

The substrate 41W with lenses constituting the laminated lens structure 11 has a configuration in which a lens resin portion 82 is added to a support substrate 81. The support substrate 81 has a through hole 83, and the lens resin portion 82 is formed inside the through hole 83. The lens resin portion 82 includes the above-described lens 21, and indicates a portion integrated with a material forming the lens 21 in addition to a portion extending to the support substrate 81 and supporting the lens 21.

Note that when the support substrate 81, the lens resin portion 82, or the through hole 83 of the respective lens-equipped substrates 41a to 41e are distinguished, they are referred to as support substrates 81a to 81e, lens resin portions 82a to 82e, or through holes 83a to 83e so as to correspond to the lens-equipped substrates 41a to 41e, as shown in fig. 13.

< detailed description of lens resin section >

Next, the shape of the lens resin section 82 will be described taking as an example the lens resin section 82a of the substrate 41a with a lens.

Fig. 14 shows a plan view and a sectional view of a support substrate 81a and a lens resin portion 82a constituting the substrate 41a with a lens.

The sectional view of the support substrate 81a and the lens resin section 82 shown in fig. 14 is a sectional view taken along lines B-B 'and C-C' in a plan view.

The lens resin portion 82a is a portion integrally formed from a material forming the lens 21, and includes a lens portion 91 and a support portion 92. In the above description, the lens 21 corresponds to the lens portion 91 or the entire lens resin portion 82 a.

The lens section 91 is a portion having a performance as a lens, in other words, it is "a portion refracting light to make the light converge or diverge" or "a portion having a curved surface such as a convex surface or a concave surface or an aspherical surface or a portion in which a plurality of polygons used in a fresnel lens or a lens using a diffraction grating are continuously arranged".

The support portion 92 is a portion extending from the lens portion 91 to the support substrate 81a to support the lens portion 91. The support portion 92 includes an arm portion 101 and a leg portion 102, and is located on the outer periphery of the lens portion 91.

The arm portion 101 is a portion that is provided outside the lens portion 91 in contact with the lens portion 91 and extends outward from the lens portion 91 with a constant film thickness. The leg portion 102 is a portion of the support portion 92 other than the arm portion 101, and includes a portion that contacts the side wall of the through hole 83 a. The film thickness of the resin in the leg portion 102 is preferably larger than that of the arm portion 101.

The planar shape of the through-hole 83a formed in the support substrate 81a is circular, and the sectional shape is naturally the same regardless of the diameter direction. In the shape of the lens resin portion 82a, which is a shape determined by the shapes of the upper and lower molds when forming the lens, the sectional shape is the same regardless of the diameter direction.

Fig. 15 is a sectional view showing the laminated lens structure 11 and the diaphragm plate 51 as a part of the camera module 1D shown in fig. 13.

In the camera module 1D, light incident on the module is allowed to enter, being restricted by the diaphragm plate 51, and then the light expands inside the laminated lens structure 11 and enters the light receiving element 12 (not shown in fig. 15) arranged on the lower side of the laminated lens structure 11. That is, when the laminated lens structure 11 is viewed as a whole, light incident on the module advances from the opening 52 of the diaphragm plate 51 toward the lower side and spreads substantially. Thus, as an example of the size of the lens resin portion 82 of the laminated lens structure 11, in the laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 15, the lens resin portion 82a provided on the lensed substrate 41a disposed directly below the diaphragm plate 51 is smallest, and the lens resin portion 82e provided on the lensed substrate 41e disposed at the lowermost layer of the laminated lens structure 11 is largest.

If the lens resin portion 82 of the substrate 41 with lenses has a constant thickness, it is difficult to manufacture large lenses compared to small lenses. This is because, for example, the lens is easily deformed by a load applied to the lens when the lens is manufactured, and it is difficult to maintain the strength of the large lens. Thus, the thickness of the large lens is preferably increased to be larger than that of the small lens. Therefore, in the laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 15, the thickness of the lens resin section 82 is the thickest of the lens resin sections 82e provided in the lensed substrate 41e disposed in the lowermost layer.

In order to improve the degree of freedom in lens design, the laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 15 has at least one of the following features.

(1) The thickness of the support substrate 81 is different at least between the plurality of lensed substrates 41 that constitute the laminated lens structure 11. For example, the thickness of the support substrate 81 in the lower lens-equipped substrate 41 is large.

(2) The opening width of the through hole 83 of the lensed substrate 41 is different at least between the plurality of lensed substrates 41 that constitute the laminated lens structure 11. For example, the opening width of the through hole 83 in the lower lens-equipped substrate 41 is large.

(3) The diameter of the lens portion 91 provided in the lensed substrate 41 differs at least between the plurality of lensed substrates 41 that constitute the laminated lens structure 11. For example, the lens portion 91 of the lower substrate 41 with lenses has a large diameter.

(4) The thickness of the lens portion 91 provided in the substrate 41 with lenses is different at least between the plurality of substrates 41 with lenses constituting the laminated lens structure 11. For example, the thickness of the lens portion 91 in the lower lens-equipped substrate 41 is large.

(5) The distance between the lenses provided in the lensed substrates 41 is different at least between the plurality of lensed substrates 41 that constitute the laminated lens structure 11.

(6) The volume of the lens resin section 82 provided in the lensed substrate 41 differs at least between the plurality of lensed substrates 41 that constitute the laminated lens structure 11. For example, the lens resin portion 82 in the lower lens-equipped substrate 41 has a large volume.

(7) The material of the lens resin section 82 provided in the lensed substrate 41 differs at least between the plurality of lensed substrates 41 that constitute the laminated lens structure 11.

Generally, incident light entering the camera module includes normal incident light and oblique incident light. Most of the oblique incident light impinges on the diaphragm plate 51 and is absorbed or reflected to the outside of the camera module 1D. The obliquely incident light admitted without being restricted by the diaphragm plate 51 strikes the side wall of the through-hole 83 depending on its incident angle, and thus may be reflected at the side wall.

The traveling direction of the reflected light of the obliquely incident light is determined by the incident angle of the obliquely incident light 85 and the angle of the sidewall of the through-hole 83, as shown in fig. 13. In the case of a so-called forward widening shape in which the opening width of the through-hole 83 increases from the incident side toward the light receiving element 12 side, when oblique incident light 85 of a certain incident angle, which is allowed to enter without being restricted by the diaphragm plate 51, strikes the side wall of the through-hole 83, light is reflected toward the light receiving element 12, and the light may become stray light or noise light.

However, in the laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 13, as shown in fig. 15, the through-hole 83 has a so-called downward narrowing shape in which the opening width decreases downward (the side where the light receiving element 12 is arranged). In the case of this shape, the oblique incident light 85 striking the side wall of the through-hole 83 is reflected toward the upper side in the so-called incident side direction rather than toward the lower side in the direction of the so-called light receiving element 12. Thereby, an action or effect of suppressing the generation of stray light or noise light can be obtained.

More preferably, a light absorbing material may be provided in the sidewall of the through-hole 83 of the lensed substrate 41 to suppress light that strikes the sidewall and is reflected.

As an example, the following method may be employed for this purpose. Light of a wavelength (for example, visible light) to be received when the camera module 1D is used as a camera is first light and light of a wavelength different from the first light (for example, UV light) is second light. Carbon particles as an absorbing material of the first light (visible light) are dispersed in a resin cured by the second light (UV light), and the obtained dispersion is coated or sprayed onto the surface of the supporting substrate 81. Then, only the resin of the side wall portion of the through-hole 83 may be cured by irradiation with the second light (UV light), and the resin in the other area may be removed. In this way, a material layer having light absorption property for the first light (visible light) can be formed on the side wall of the through hole 83.

The laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 15 is an example of a structure in which a diaphragm plate 51 is disposed on top of a plurality of laminated lenticular substrates 41. The diaphragm plate 51 may be inserted and disposed at any position of the lenticular substrate 41 in the middle, instead of on top of the plurality of stacked lenticular substrates 41.

As another example, instead of providing the plate-shaped diaphragm plate 51 separately from the lensed substrate 41, a layer of a material having light absorption properties may be formed on the surface of the lensed substrate 41 to function as a diaphragm. For example, the following method may be employed for this purpose. Carbon particles as an absorbing material of the first light (visible light) are dispersed in the resin cured by the second light (UV light). The obtained dispersion is coated or sprayed onto the surface of the substrate 41 with a lens, and the resin in the region other than the region through which light passes when the layer functions as a diaphragm is irradiated with second light (UV light) to cure the resin and remain. The resin is removed in the areas that are not cured (i.e., the areas through which light passes when the layer is used as a diaphragm). In this way, a diaphragm can be formed on the surface of the lensed substrate 41.

Note that the lensed substrate 41W in which the stop is formed on the surface may be the lensed substrate 41W disposed at the uppermost layer of the laminated lens structure 11 or may be the lensed substrate 41W as the inner layer of the laminated lens structure 11.

The laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 15 has a structure in which the substrates 41 with lenses are laminated.

As another embodiment, the laminated lens structure 11 may have a structure including a plurality of lens-equipped substrates 41 and at least one support substrate 81 not having a lens resin section 82. In this structure, the support substrate 81 not having the lens resin portion 82 may be provided at the lowermost layer or the uppermost layer of the laminated lens structure 11, or may be provided as an inner layer of the laminated lens structure 11. For example, such a structure has the following actions or effects: the distance between the plurality of lenses of the laminated lens structure 11 and the distance between the lens resin portion 82 of the lowermost layer of the laminated lens structure 11 and the light receiving element 12 provided below the laminated lens structure 11 can be set arbitrarily.

Alternatively, such a structure has the following actions or effects: when the opening width of the support substrate 81 without the lens resin portion 82 is appropriately set and a material having light absorption is arranged in a region other than the opening portion, the region can be used as a diaphragm plate.

<7. sixth embodiment of Camera Module >

In fig. 16, portions corresponding to those of the fourth embodiment shown in fig. 13 will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and portions different from the camera module 1D shown in fig. 13 will be mainly described.

In the camera module 1F shown in fig. 16, similarly to the camera module 1D shown in fig. 13, after the incident light is limitedly allowed to enter by the diaphragm plate 51, the light is expanded inside the laminated lens structure 11 and is incident on the light receiving element 12 disposed on the lower side of the laminated lens structure 11. That is, when the laminated lens structure 11 is viewed as a whole, light advances from the opening portion 52 of the diaphragm plate 51 toward the lower side and widens forward.

The camera module 1F shown in fig. 16 is different from the camera module 1D shown in fig. 13 in that the cross-sectional shape of the through-hole 83 of each lens-equipped substrate 41 constituting the laminated lens structure 11 is a so-called forward-widening shape in which the opening width increases downward (the side on which the light receiving element 12 is arranged).

Since the laminated lens structure 11 of the camera module 1F is a structure in which incident light advances from the opening portion 52 of the diaphragm plate 51 toward the lower side and widens forward, for example, in a forward-widening shape in which the opening width of the through-hole 83 is increased downward, the support substrate 81 is less likely to obstruct the optical path than in a downward-narrowing shape in which the opening width of the through-hole 83 is decreased downward. This provides an effect of increasing the degree of freedom in lens design.

Further, in the case where the sectional area of the lens resin portion 82 including the support portion 92 in the substrate plane direction is a downwardly narrowed shape in which the opening width of the through hole 83 is reduced downward, it has a certain size to allow light incident to the lens 21 to transmit through the lower surface of the lens resin portion 82, and its sectional area increases from the lower surface toward the upper surface of the lens resin portion 82.

On the other hand, in the case of the forward-widening shape in which the opening width of the through-hole 83 increases downward, the sectional area of the lower surface of the lens resin portion 82 is substantially the same as that in the case of the downward-narrowing shape, but the sectional area thereof decreases from the lower surface toward the upper surface of the lens resin portion 82.

Thus, the structure in which the opening width of the through hole 83 is increased downward provides an action or effect capable of reducing the size of the lens resin portion 82 including the support portion 92. Further, as a result, an action or effect can be provided: the difficulty of the lens forming process described above, which occurs when the lens is large, can be reduced.

< 8> seventh embodiment of Camera Module

In fig. 17, portions corresponding to those of fig. 13 will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and portions different from the camera module 1D shown in fig. 13 will be mainly described.

In the camera module 1G shown in fig. 17, the shapes of the lens resin portion 82 and the through hole 83 of the substrate 41 with a lens constituting the laminated lens structure 11 are different from the shape of the camera module 1D shown in fig. 13.

The laminated lens structure 11 of the camera module 1G includes a lensed substrate 41 in which the through-hole 83 has a so-called downward narrowing shape in which the opening width decreases downward (the side on which the light receiving element 12 is arranged), and a lensed substrate 41 in which the through-hole 83 has a so-called forward widening shape in which the opening width increases downward.

In the lensed substrate 41 in which the through-hole 83 has a so-called narrowing-down shape in which the opening width decreases downward, as described above, the oblique incident light 85 that strikes the side wall of the through-hole 83 is reflected in the upper side direction (i.e., the so-called incident side direction), whereby an action or effect of suppressing the occurrence of stray light or noise light is obtained.

Therefore, in the laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 17, among the plurality of lensed substrates 41 constituting the laminated lens structure 11, particularly for the plurality of substrates on the upper side (incident side), the lensed substrate 41 in which the through-hole 83 has a so-called narrowing-down shape in which the opening width decreases downward is used.

As described above, in the lensed substrate 41 in which the through-hole 83 has a so-called forward-widening shape in which the opening width increases downward, the support substrate 81 provided in the lensed substrate 41 does not obstruct the optical path too much. Thereby, an action or effect of increasing the degree of freedom of lens design or reducing the size of the lens resin section 82 including the support section 92 provided in the substrate 41 with lenses is obtained.

In the laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 17, since light advances downward from the stop and widens, among the plurality of lensed substrates 41 constituting the laminated lens structure 11, the lens resin section 82 provided in the lower lensed substrate 41 has a large size. When the through-hole 83 having a forward widening shape is used in such a large lens resin portion 82, a significant effect of reducing the size of the lens resin portion 82 is obtained.

Therefore, in the laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 17, among the plurality of lensed substrates 41 constituting the laminated lens structure 11, particularly for the lower plurality of lensed substrates 41, the lensed substrate 41 in which the through-hole 83 has a so-called forward-widening shape in which the opening width increases downward is used.

<9 > detailed constitution of substrate with lens >

Next, a detailed configuration of the lensed substrate 41 will be described.

Fig. 18 is a sectional view showing a detailed configuration of the substrate 41 with a lens.

Note that, in fig. 18, the lens-equipped substrate 41a of the uppermost layer among the 5 lens-equipped substrates 41a to 41e is shown, but the other lens-equipped substrates 41 are similarly configured.

As the structure of the substrate 41 with lens, any of the structures shown in a to C of fig. 18 can be adopted.

In the substrate 41 with a lens shown in a of fig. 18, the lens resin portion 82 is formed so as to block the through hole 83 when viewed from the upper surface with respect to the through hole 83 formed in the support substrate 81. As described with reference to fig. 14, the lens resin portion 82 includes a lens portion 91 (not shown) in a central region and a support portion 92 (not shown) in a peripheral region.

In order to prevent ghost or flare due to reflection of light, a film 121 having light-absorbing or light-blocking properties is formed on the side wall of the through hole 83 of the substrate 41 with a lens. For convenience, this film 121 is referred to as a light-shielding film 121.

An upper surface layer 122 containing an oxide, nitride, or other insulating material is formed on the upper surfaces of the support substrate 81 and the lens resin portion 82, and a lower surface layer 123 containing an oxide, nitride, or other insulating material is formed on the lower surfaces of the support substrate 81 and the lens resin portion 82.

As an example, the upper surface layer 122 is formed as an antireflection film in which a plurality of low refractive index films and a plurality of high refractive index films are alternately laminated. For example, the antireflection film may be formed by alternately laminating a low refractive index film and a high refractive index film of a total of four layers. For example, the low refractive index film is formed of an oxide film such as SiOx (1. ltoreq. x. ltoreq.2), SiOC, or SiOF, and the high refractive index film is formed of an oxide film such as TiO, TaO, or Nb₂O₅And the like.

Note that the upper surface layer 122 may be designed to achieve a desired anti-reflection performance using, for example, optical simulation. The materials, film thicknesses, the number of layers, and the like of the low refractive index film and the high refractive index film are not particularly limited. In the present embodiment, the outermost surface of the upper surface layer 122 is a low refractive index film having a film thickness of, for example, 20 to 1000nm and a density of, for example, 2.2 to 2.5g/cm³The flatness is, for example, about 1nm or less root mean square surface roughness rq (rms). Further, the upper surface layer 122 also serves as a bonding film when bonded to other lensed substrates 41, which will be described later in detail.

As an example, the upper surface layer 122 may be an antireflection film in which a plurality of low refractive index films and a plurality of high refractive index films are alternately laminated, and among such antireflection films, may be an antireflection film made of an inorganic substance. As another example, the upper surface layer 122 may be a single-layer film containing an oxide, a nitride, or other insulating material, and in such a single-layer film, may be a film made of an inorganic substance.

As an example, the lower surface layer 123 may be an antireflection film in which a plurality of low refractive index films and a plurality of high refractive index films are alternately laminated, and in such an antireflection film, may be an antireflection film made of an inorganic substance. As another example, the lower surface layer 123 may be a single-layer film containing an oxide, a nitride, or other insulating material, and in such a single-layer film, may be a film made of an inorganic substance.

In the lensed substrate 41 shown in B and C of fig. 18, only a portion different from the lensed substrate 41 shown in a of fig. 18 will be described.

In the substrate 41 with a lens shown in B of fig. 18, the film formed on the lower surfaces of the support substrate 81 and the lens resin portion 82 is different from the substrate 41 with a lens shown in a of fig. 18.

In the substrate 41 with a lens shown in B of fig. 18, a lower surface layer 124 containing an oxide, nitride, or other insulating material is formed on the lower surface of the support substrate 81. On the other hand, the lower surface layer 124 is not formed on the lower surface of the lens resin portion 82. The lower surface layer 124 may comprise the same material as the upper surface layer 122 or a different material.

Such a structure may be formed, for example, by a manufacturing method of forming the lower surface layer 124 on the lower surface of the support substrate 81 before forming the lens resin section 82, and then forming the lens resin section 82. Alternatively, such a structure may be formed by forming a mask on the lens resin section 82 after forming the lens resin section 82 and depositing a film forming the lower surface layer 124 on the lower surface of the support substrate 81 according to, for example, a PVD method in a state where no mask is formed on the support substrate 81.

In the lensed substrate 41 shown in C of fig. 18, an upper surface layer 125 containing an oxide, nitride, or other insulating material is formed on the upper surface of the support substrate 81. On the other hand, the upper surface layer 125 is not formed on the upper surface of the lens resin section 82.

Similarly, in the lower surface of the lensed substrate 41, a lower surface layer 124 containing an oxide, nitride, or other insulating material is formed on the lower surface of the support substrate 81. On the other hand, the lower surface layer 124 is not formed on the lower surface of the lens resin portion 82.

Such a structure can be formed, for example, by a manufacturing method in which the upper surface layer 125 and the lower surface layer 124 are formed on the support substrate 81 before the lens resin section 82 is formed, and then the lens resin section 82 is formed. Alternatively, such a structure may be formed by forming a mask on the lens resin section 82 after forming the lens resin section 82 and depositing films forming the upper surface layer 125 and the lower surface layer 124 on the surface of the support substrate 81 according to, for example, a PVD method in a state where no mask is formed on the support substrate 81. The lower surface layer 124 and the upper surface layer 125 may comprise the same material or different materials.

The substrate 41 with lens may have the above-described configuration.

<10. method for producing substrate with lens >

Next, a method for manufacturing the substrate 41 with lens will be described with reference to fig. 19 to 29.

First, a support substrate 81W in a substrate state in which a plurality of through holes 83 are formed is prepared. For example, a silicon substrate used for a general semiconductor device may be used as the support substrate 81W. The support substrate 81W has, for example, a circular shape as shown in a of fig. 19, and has a diameter of, for example, 200mm or 300 mm. The support substrate 81W may be, for example, a glass substrate other than a silicon substrate, a resin substrate, or a metal substrate.

Further, in the present embodiment, the planar shape of the through-hole 83 is a circle as shown in a of fig. 19, but as shown in B of fig. 19, the planar shape of the through-hole 83 may be a polygon such as a quadrangle.

The opening width of the through-hole 83 may be, for example, about 100 μm to about 20 mm. In this case, for example, about 100 to 5,000,000 through holes may be provided in the support substrate 81W.

In this specification, the size of the through hole 83 in the planar direction of the substrate 41 with a lens is referred to as an opening width. The opening width refers to the length of one side when the planar shape of the through-hole 83 is a quadrangle, and refers to the diameter when the planar shape of the through-hole 83 is a circle, unless otherwise specified.

As shown in fig. 20, in the through hole 83, the second opening width 132 in the second surface facing the first surface of the support substrate 81W is smaller than the first opening width 131 in the first surface.

As an example of the three-dimensional shape of the through-hole 83 in which the second opening width 132 is smaller than the first opening width 131, the through-hole 83 may have a truncated conical shape or a truncated polygonal pyramid shape as shown in a of fig. 20. The sectional shape of the side wall of the through hole 83 may be a linear shape as shown in a of fig. 20, a curved shape as shown in B of fig. 20, or a stepped shape as shown in C of fig. 20.

In the through-hole 83 having a shape in which the second opening width 132 is smaller than the first opening width 131, when resin is supplied into the through-hole 83 and the resin is pressed by the mold members in the opposite directions from the first and second surfaces to form the lens resin portion 82, the resin forming the lens resin portion 82 receives forces from the two facing mold members and is pressed against the side walls of the through-hole 83. Thereby, an effect of increasing the adhesive strength between the support substrate and the resin forming the lens resin portion 82 can be obtained.

Note that, as another embodiment, the through-hole 83 may have a shape in which the first opening width 131 and the second opening width 132 are the same, that is, a shape in which the sidewall of the through-hole 83 has a vertical sectional shape.

< method for forming via hole by wet etching >

The through-hole 83 of the support substrate 81W may be formed by etching the support substrate 81W with wet etching. Specifically, before the support substrate 81W is etched, an etching mask for preventing the non-opening region of the support substrate 81W from being etched is formed on the surface of the support substrate 81W. For example, an insulating film such as a silicon oxide film or a silicon nitride film is used as a material of the etching mask. The etching mask is formed by forming a layer of an etching mask material on the surface of the support substrate 81W and opening a pattern in the layer that forms the planar shape of the through-hole 83. After the etching mask is formed, the support substrate 81W is etched, whereby a through hole 83 is formed in the support substrate 81W.

When single crystal silicon with the substrate plane orientation of (100) is used as the support substrate 81W, the through-hole 83 may be formed using, for example, crystal anisotropic wet etching using an alkaline solution such as KOH.

When crystal anisotropic wet etching using an alkaline solution such as KOH is performed on the support substrate 81W which is single crystal silicon having a substrate plane orientation of (100), etching proceeds so that a (111) plane appears on the opening side wall. As a result, even when the planar shape of the opening portion of the etching mask is a circle or a quadrangle, the following through-hole 83 is obtained: wherein the planar shape is a quadrangle, the second opening width 132 is smaller than the first opening width 131 in the opening width of the through-hole 83, and the three-dimensional shape of the through-hole 83 has a truncated pyramid shape or the like. The angle of the side wall of the through-hole 83 having a truncated pyramid shape is about 55 ° with respect to the substrate plane.

As another example of etching for forming a through hole, wet etching using a chemical liquid capable of etching silicon in an arbitrary shape without restricting the crystal orientation, disclosed in WO 2011/010739 or the like, may be used. As the chemical liquid, a chemical liquid obtained by adding at least one of polyoxyethylene alkylphenyl ether, polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether, and polyethylene glycol as a surfactant to a tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) aqueous solution, a chemical liquid obtained by adding isopropyl alcohol to a KOH aqueous solution, or the like can be used.

When etching for forming the through-hole 83 is performed on the supporting substrate 81W of single crystal silicon having a substrate plane orientation of (100) using the above chemical liquid, wherein when the planar shape of the opening portion of the etching mask is circular, the following through-hole 83 is obtained: the planar shape is a circle, the second opening width 132 is smaller than the first opening width 131, and the three-dimensional shape is a truncated cone shape or the like.

When the planar shape of the opening portion of the etching mask is a quadrangle, the following through-hole 83 is obtained: the planar shape is a quadrangle, the second opening width 132 is smaller than the first opening width 131, and the three-dimensional shape is a truncated pyramid shape or the like. The angle of the side wall of the through-hole 83 having a truncated conical shape or a truncated pyramidal shape is about 45 ° with respect to the substrate plane.

< method for forming via hole Using Dry etching >

In addition, as the etching for forming the through hole 83, dry etching may be used instead of the above wet etching.

A method of forming the through-hole 83 using dry etching will be described with reference to fig. 21.

As shown in a of fig. 21, an etching mask 141 is formed on one surface of the support substrate 81W. The etching mask 141 has a partially opened mask pattern in which the via hole 83 is formed.

Then, as shown in B of fig. 21, after forming the protective film 142 for protecting the side wall of the etching mask 141, the support substrate 81W is etched to a predetermined depth according to dry etching, as shown in C of fig. 21. Through the dry etching step, although the protective film 142 on the surface of the support substrate 81W and on the surface of the etching mask 141 is removed, the protective film 142 on the side surface of the etching mask 141 remains, and thus the side wall of the etching mask 141 is protected. After the etching is performed, as shown in D of fig. 21, the protective film 142 on the sidewall is removed, and thus the etching mask 141 is retreated in a direction of increasing the size of the opening pattern.

Then, again, the protective film forming step, the dry etching step, and the etching mask retracting step shown in B to D of fig. 21 are performed a plurality of times. Therefore, as shown in E of fig. 21, the support substrate 81W is etched into a stepped shape (concave-convex shape) having periodic steps.

Finally, when the etching mask 141 is removed, the through-hole 83 having the stepped sidewall is formed in the support substrate 81W as shown in F of fig. 21. The width in the planar direction of the stepped shape of the through-hole 83 (the width of one step) is, for example, about 400nm to 1 μm.

As described above, when the through-hole 83 is formed using dry etching, the protective film forming step, the dry etching step, and the etching mask retreating step are repeatedly performed.

Since the side wall of the through hole 83 has a periodic step shape (concave-convex shape), reflection of incident light can be suppressed. In addition, if the side wall of the through-hole 83 has a concave-convex shape of random size, a cavity (void) is formed in the adhesive layer between the side wall and the lens formed within the through-hole 83. Therefore, the adhesion with the lens may be reduced due to the cavity. However, according to the above-described forming method, since the sidewall of the through-hole 83 has a periodic concave-convex shape, the adhesion is improved, and the variation in optical characteristics due to the positional shift of the lens can be suppressed.

As an example of a material used in each step, for example, the support substrate 81W may be single crystal silicon, and an etching maskThe mold 141 may be a photoresist, and the protective film 142 may be a photoresist using a material such as C₄F₈Or CHF₃The fluorocarbon polymer is formed by plasma, and the etching process can be performed by using a plasma containing SF₆/O₂Or C₄F₈/SF₆Plasma etching of plasma is performed, and the mask retreating step may be performed by using O₂Gases or gases such as CF₄/O₂Etc. contain O₂The plasma etching of the gas of (2) is performed.

Alternatively, the support substrate 81W may be single crystal silicon, and the etching mask 141 may be SiO₂The etching may use a solution containing Cl₂The protective film 142 may be formed by using O₂The oxide film obtained by plasma oxidation of the etching target material can be used by using a material containing Cl₂The mask step may be performed using a plasma of a gas such as CF₄/O₂Plasma etching of the gas containing F is performed.

As described above, the plurality of through holes 83 may be simultaneously formed in the support substrate 81W by wet etching or dry etching. In this case, the through groove 151 may be formed in a region of the support substrate 81W in which the through hole 83 is not formed, as shown in a of fig. 22.

Fig. 22a is a plan view of the support substrate 81W in which the through-holes 151 are formed in addition to the through-holes 83.

For example, as shown in a of fig. 22, the through-grooves 151 are arranged only in the portions between the through-holes 83 in the row direction and the column direction so as to avoid the plurality of through-holes 83 arranged in a matrix.

Further, the through grooves 151 of the support substrate 81W may be arranged at the same position in each lens-equipped substrate 41 constituting the laminated lens structure 11. In this case, in a state in which the plurality of support substrates 81W are stacked as the laminated lens structure 11, as shown in a cross-sectional view B of fig. 22, a structure is formed in which the through grooves 151 of the plurality of support substrates 81W penetrate between the plurality of support substrates 81W.

The through groove 151 of the support substrate 81W as a part of the substrate 41 with lenses can provide the following actions or effects: for example, when stress that deforms the lensed substrate 41 is applied from the outside of the lensed substrate 41, the deformation of the lensed substrate 41 caused by the stress is mitigated.

Alternatively, the through groove 151 may provide the following actions or effects: for example, when stress that deforms the lensed substrate 41 is generated from the inside of the lensed substrate 41, the deformation of the lensed substrate 41 caused by the stress is reduced.

< method for producing substrate with lens >

Next, a method of manufacturing the substrate 41W with a lens in a substrate state will be described with reference to fig. 23.

First, as shown in a of fig. 23, a support substrate 81W formed with a plurality of through holes 83 is prepared. The light shielding film 121 is formed on the side wall of the through hole 83. In fig. 23, although only two through holes 83 are shown due to the limitation of space, in practice, as shown in fig. 19, a plurality of through holes 83 are formed in the planar direction of the support substrate 81W. Further, an alignment mark (not shown) for position alignment is formed in a region near the outer periphery of the support substrate 81W.

The surface-side flat portion 171 on the upper side of the support substrate 81W and the back-side flat portion 172 on the lower side thereof are flat surfaces, the degree of flatness of which allows plasma bonding in a later step. The thickness of the support substrate 81W also serves as a spacer that determines the distance between the lenses when the lensed substrate 41 is finally singulated and superposed on another lensed substrate 41.

A base material having a low thermal expansion coefficient (thermal expansion coefficient of 10 ppm/DEG C or less) is preferably used for the support substrate 81W.

Next, as illustrated in B of fig. 23, the support substrate 81W is placed on the lower mold 181 in which the plurality of concave optical transfer surfaces 182 are arranged at fixed intervals. More specifically, the backside flat portion 172 of the support substrate 81W and the flat surface 183 of the lower mold 181 are superposed together such that the concave optical transfer surface 182 is located inside the through hole 83 of the support substrate 81W. The optical transfer surface 182 of the lower mold 181 is formed in one-to-one correspondence with the through holes 83 of the support substrate 81W, and the positions in the planar direction of the support substrate 81W and the lower mold 181 are adjusted so that the centers of the corresponding optical transfer surface 182 and the through holes 83 coincide in the optical axis direction. The lower mold 181 is made of a hard mold material, for example, metal, silicon, quartz, or glass.

Next, as shown in C of fig. 23, the energy-curable resin 191 is filled (dropped) into the through-hole 83 of the lower mold 181 and the support substrate 81W which are overlapped together. The lens resin portion 82 is formed using an energy curable resin 191. For this reason, the energy-curable resin 191 is preferably subjected to defoaming treatment in advance so as not to contain bubbles. As the defoaming treatment, it is preferable to perform vacuum defoaming treatment or defoaming treatment using centrifugal force. Further, it is preferable to perform vacuum defoaming treatment after filling. When the defoaming treatment is performed, the lens resin portion 82 may be molded without including bubbles.

Next, as shown in D of fig. 23, the upper die 201 is placed on the lower die 181 and the support substrate 81W which are overlapped together. The plurality of concave optical transfer surfaces 202 are arranged at regular intervals in the upper mold 201. In the same manner as the placement of the lower mold 181, positioning is performed with high accuracy, and then the upper mold 201 is placed so that the center of the through hole 83 and the center of the optical transfer surface 202 coincide in the optical axis direction.

In the height direction, which is a longitudinal direction on the drawing, according to a control device for controlling the interval between the upper mold 201 and the lower mold 181, the position of the upper mold 201 is fixed so that the interval between the upper mold 201 and the lower mold 181 reaches a predetermined distance. In this case, the space sandwiched between the optical transfer surface 202 of the upper mold 201 and the optical transfer surface 182 of the lower mold 181 is equal to the thickness of the lens resin portion 82 (lens 21) calculated by optical design.

Alternatively, as shown in E of fig. 23, the flat surface 203 of the upper die 201 and the front-side flat portion 171 of the support substrate 81W may be overlapped together in the same manner as the lower die 181 is placed. In this case, the distance between the upper mold 201 and the lower mold 181 is the same as the thickness of the support substrate 81W, and therefore, the positional alignment can be performed with high accuracy in the planar direction and the height direction.

When the interval between the upper and lower dies 201 and 181 is controlled to reach a predetermined distance, in the above-described step of C of fig. 23, the filling amount of the energy-curable resin 191 dropped into the through hole 83 of the support substrate 81W is controlled in an amount not to overflow the space surrounded by the through hole 83 of the support substrate 81W and the upper and lower dies 201 and 181 located on the upper and lower sides thereof, respectively. This can reduce the manufacturing cost without wasting the material of the energy curable resin 191.

Subsequently, in a state shown in E of fig. 23, curing treatment of the energy curable resin 191 is performed. For example, the energy curable resin 191 is cured by applying with heat or UV light as energy and leaving the resin for a predetermined time. During curing, when the upper mold 201 is pressed downward and aligned, deformation caused by shrinkage of the energy curable resin 191 can be suppressed to the minimum.

A thermoplastic resin may be used instead of the energy curable resin 191. In this case, in the state shown in E of fig. 23, when the temperatures of the upper mold 201 and the lower mold 181 are increased, the energy curable resin 191 is molded into a lens shape and is cured by cooling.

Next, as shown in F of fig. 23, the control device that controls the positions of the upper and lower dies 201 and 181 moves the upper die 201 upward and the lower die 181 downward so that the upper and lower dies 201 and 181 are separated from the support substrate 81W. When the upper mold 201 and the lower mold 181 are separated from the support substrate 81W, the lens resin portion 82 including the lens 21 is formed inside the through hole 83 of the support substrate 81W.

Note that the surfaces of the upper mold 201 and the lower mold 181 which come into contact with the support substrate 81W may be coated with a fluorine-based or silicon-based release agent. By so doing, the support substrate 81W can be easily separated from the upper and lower dies 201 and 181. Further, as a method of easily performing separation from the surface in contact with the support substrate 81W, various kinds of coating such as Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) containing fluorine can be performed.

Next, as shown in G of fig. 23, an upper surface layer 122 is formed on the surfaces of the support substrate 81W and the lens resin section 82, and a lower surface layer 123 is formed on the back surfaces of the support substrate 81W and the lens resin section 82. Before or after the upper surface layer 122 and the lower surface layer 123 are formed, Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) or the like may be performed as necessary to planarize the front-side flat portion 171 and the back-side flat portion 172 of the support substrate 81W.

As described above, when the energy-curable resin 191 is pressure-molded (embossed) into the through-hole 83 formed in the support substrate 81W using the upper mold 201 and the lower mold 181, the lens resin portion 82 can be formed and the lens-equipped substrate 41 can be manufactured.

The shapes of the optical transfer surface 182 and the optical transfer surface 202 are not limited to the concave shapes described above, but may be appropriately determined according to the shape of the lens resin portion 82. As shown in fig. 15, the lenticular substrates 41a to 41e can take various lens shapes derived by optical design. For example, a biconvex shape, a biconcave shape, a plano-convex shape, a plano-concave shape, a convex meniscus shape, a concave meniscus shape, and a higher order aspheric shape may be used.

Further, the optical transfer surface 182 and the optical transfer surface 202 may have a shape such that the lens shape after formation has a moth-eye structure.

According to the above manufacturing method, since the change in the distance in the plane direction between the lens resin portions 82 due to curing shrinkage of the energy curable resin 191 can be cut off by the inserted support substrate 81W, the distance accuracy between the lenses can be controlled with high accuracy. Further, there is an effect in which the low-strength energy-curable resin 191 is reinforced with the high-strength support substrate 81W. Thereby, it is possible to provide a lens array substrate in which a plurality of lenses having good handling performance are arranged, and to have an effect of suppressing warping of the lens array substrate.

< example in which the shape of the through-hole is polygonal >

As shown in B of fig. 19, the planar shape of the through-hole 83 may be a polygon such as a quadrangle.

Fig. 24 shows a plan view and a sectional view of the support substrate 81a and the lens resin portion 82a of the substrate 41a with a lens when the planar shape of the through-hole 83 is a quadrangle.

The sectional view of the substrate 41a with a lens shown in fig. 24 is a sectional view taken along lines B-B 'and C-C' in a plan view.

As can be seen from a comparison of the sectional view taken along the line B-B 'and the sectional view taken along the line C-C', when the through-hole 83a is a quadrangle, the distance from the center of the through-hole 83a to the upper outer edge of the through-hole 83a and the distance from the center of the through-hole 83a to the lower outer edge of the through-hole 83a are different in the side direction and the diagonal direction of the quadrangle through-hole 83a, the distance in the diagonal direction being greater than the distance in the side direction. Thus, when the planar shape of the through-hole 83a is a quadrangle, if the lens section 91 is a circle, the distance from the outer periphery of the lens section 91 to the side wall of the through-hole 83a (i.e., the length of the support section 92) needs to be different lengths in the side direction and the diagonal direction of the quadrangle.

Therefore, the lens resin portion 82a shown in fig. 24 has the following configuration.

(1) The length of the arm portion 101 disposed on the outer periphery of the lens portion 91 is the same in the side direction and the diagonal direction of the quadrangle.

(2) The length of the leg portion 102 disposed outside the arm portion 101 and extending to the side wall of the through-hole 83a is set so that the length of the leg portion 102 in the diagonal direction of the quadrangle is larger than the length of the leg portion 102 in the side direction of the quadrangle.

As shown in fig. 24, the leg portion 102 is not in direct contact with the lens portion 91, and the arm portion 101 is in direct contact with the lens portion 91.

The lens resin portion 82a shown in fig. 24 can provide the following actions or effects: the length and thickness of the arm portion 101 in direct contact with the lens portion 91 are constant over the entire outer circumference of the lens portion 91, whereby the entire lens portion 91 is uniformly supported with a constant force.

Further, since the entire lens portion 91 is uniformly supported with a constant force, for example, the following action or effect can be obtained: when stress is applied to the entire periphery of the through-hole 83a from the support substrate 81a surrounding the through-hole 83a, the stress is uniformly transmitted to the entire lens portion 91, thereby preventing the stress from being unevenly transmitted only to a specific portion of the lens portion 91.

Fig. 25 shows a plan view and a sectional view of the support substrate 81a and the lens resin portion 82a of the substrate 41a with a lens, showing another example of the through-hole 83 whose planar shape is a quadrangle.

The sectional view of the substrate 41a with a lens shown in fig. 25 is a sectional view taken along lines B-B 'and C-C' in a plan view.

In fig. 25, similarly to fig. 22, the distance from the center of the through-hole 83a to the upper outer edge of the through-hole 83a and the distance from the center of the through-hole 83a to the lower outer edge of the through-hole 83a are different in the side direction and the diagonal direction of the quadrangular through-hole 83a, the distance in the diagonal direction being greater than the distance in the side direction. Thus, when the planar shape of the through-hole 83a is a quadrangle, if the lens section 91 is a circle, the distance from the outer periphery of the lens section 91 to the side wall of the through-hole 83a (i.e., the length of the support section 92) needs to be different lengths in the side direction and the diagonal direction of the quadrangle.

Therefore, the lens resin portion 82a shown in fig. 25 has the following configuration.

(1) The length of the leg portion 102 disposed on the outer periphery of the lens portion 91 is constant along the four sides of the quadrangle of the through hole 83 a.

(2) To realize the structure of (1), the length of the arm portion 101 is set so that the length of the arm portion in the diagonal direction of the quadrangle is larger than the length of the arm portion in the side direction of the quadrangle.

As shown in fig. 25, the film thickness of the resin in the leg portion 102 is larger than that of the arm portion 101. Thus, the volume of the leg portion 102 per unit area in the plane direction of the lensed substrate 41a is larger than the volume of the arm portion 101.

In the embodiment of fig. 25, when the volume of the leg portion 102 is reduced as much as possible and is constant along the four sides of the quadrangle of the through-hole 83a, the following action or effect can be provided: for example, when deformation such as swelling of the resin occurs, the change in volume is suppressed as much as possible, and the variation in volume is suppressed as much as possible over the entire periphery of the lens portion 91.

Fig. 26 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the lens resin portion 82 and the through hole 83 of the substrate 41 with a lens.

The lens resin portion 82 and the through hole 83 shown in fig. 26 have the following configurations.

(1) The sidewall of the through-hole 83 has a stepped shape having a stepped portion 221.

(2) The leg portion 102 of the support portion 92 of the lens resin portion 82 is disposed on the upper side of the sidewall of the through hole 83, and is also disposed on the step portion 221 provided in the through hole 83 so as to extend in the planar direction of the lensed substrate 41.

A method of forming the through-hole 83 in the step shape shown in fig. 26 will be explained with reference to fig. 27.

First, as shown in a of fig. 27, an etching stopper film 241 resistant to wet etching when a through hole is opened is formed on one surface of the support substrate 81W. The etching stopper film 241 may be, for example, a silicon nitride film.

Next, a hard mask 242 which is resistant to wet etching when a through hole is opened is formed on the other surface of the support substrate 81W. The hard mask 242 may be, for example, a silicon nitride film.

Next, as shown in B of fig. 27, a predetermined region of the hard mask 242 is opened to perform a first round of etching. In the first round of etching, a portion forming an upper stage of the step portion 221 of the through-hole 83 is etched. Thus, the opening of the hard mask 242 used for the first round of etching is a region corresponding to the opening of the upper substrate surface of the substrate 41 with lens shown in fig. 26.

Next, as shown in C of fig. 27, wet etching is performed so that the support substrate 81W is etched to a predetermined depth in accordance with the opening portion of the hard mask 242.

Next, as shown in D of fig. 27, the hard mask 243 is formed again on the surface of the support substrate 81W after etching, and the hard mask 243 is opened in a region corresponding to the lower portion of the step portion 221 of the through-hole 83. The hard mask 243 for the second round of etching may also be, for example, a silicon nitride film.

Next, as shown in E of fig. 27, wet etching is performed so that the support substrate 81W is etched up to the etching stopper film 241 in accordance with the opening portion of the hard mask 243.

Finally, as shown in F of fig. 27, the hard mask 243 on the upper surface of the support substrate 81W and the etching stopper film 241 on the lower surface thereof are removed.

In this way, when etching of the support substrate 81W for forming a through-hole is performed in two rounds according to wet etching, the through-hole 83 in a stepped shape shown in fig. 26 is obtained.

Fig. 28 shows a plan view and a sectional view of the support substrate 81a of the substrate 41a with a lens and the lens resin portion 82a when the through-hole 83a has the step portion 221 and the planar shape of the through-hole 83a is circular.

The sectional view of the substrate 41a with a lens in fig. 28 is a sectional view taken along lines B-B 'and C-C' in a plan view.

When the planar shape of the through-hole 83a is circular, the sectional shape of the through-hole 83a is naturally the same regardless of the diameter direction. Further, the sectional shapes of the outer edge of the lens resin portion 82a, the arm portion 101, and the leg portion 102 are also the same regardless of the diameter direction.

The through-hole 83a having the stepped shape shown in fig. 28 has the following actions or effects: the contact area between the leg portion 102 of the support portion 92 of the lens resin portion 82 and the side wall of the through hole 83a is increased as compared with the through hole 83a shown in fig. 14 in which the step portion 221 is not provided in the through hole 83 a. In addition, thereby, there is an action or effect of increasing the adhesive strength between the lens resin portion 82 and the side wall of the through-hole 83a (i.e., the adhesive strength between the lens resin portion 82a and the support substrate 81W).

Fig. 29 shows a plan view and a sectional view of the support substrate 81a of the substrate 41a with a lens and the lens resin portion 82a when the through-hole 83a has the step portion 221 and the planar shape of the through-hole 83a is a quadrangle.

The sectional view of the substrate 41a with a lens in fig. 29 is a sectional view taken along lines B-B 'and C-C' in a plan view.

The lens resin portion 82 and the through hole 83 shown in fig. 29 have the following configurations.

As shown in fig. 29, the leg portion 102 is not in direct contact with the lens portion 91, and the arm portion 101 is in direct contact with the lens portion 91.

In a manner similar to the lens resin portion 82a in fig. 24, the lens resin portion 82a shown in fig. 29 may have the following actions or effects: the length and thickness of the arm portion 101 in direct contact with the lens portion 91 are constant over the entire outer circumference of the lens portion 91, whereby the entire lens portion 91 is uniformly supported with a constant force.

Further, the structure of the through-hole 83a shown in fig. 29 has the following actions or effects: the contact area between the leg portion 102 of the support portion 92 of the lens resin portion 82 and the side wall of the through hole 83a is increased as compared with the through hole 83a shown in fig. 24 and the like in which the step portion 221 is not provided in the through hole 83 a. Thereby, there is an action or effect of increasing the adhesive strength between the lens resin portion 82 and the side wall of the through-hole 83a (i.e., the adhesive strength between the lens resin portion 82a and the support substrate 81W).

<11. direct bonding between substrates with lenses >

Next, direct bonding between the lens-equipped substrates 41W in a substrate state in which a plurality of lens-equipped substrates 41 are formed will be described.

In the following description, as shown in fig. 30, a substrate-state lensed substrate 41W on which a plurality of lensed substrates 41a are formed is referred to as a lensed substrate 41W-a, and a substrate-state lensed substrate 41W on which a plurality of lensed substrates 41b are formed is referred to as a lensed substrate 41W-b. The same applies to the other lensed substrates 41 c-41 e.

The direct bonding between the lensed substrate 41W-a in the substrate state and the lensed substrate 41W-b in the substrate state will be described with reference to fig. 31.

Note that, in fig. 31, portions of the lensed substrate 41W-b corresponding to portions of the lensed substrate 41W-a are denoted by the same reference numerals as the lensed substrate 41W-a.

The

upper surface layer

122 or 125 is formed on the upper surfaces of the lensed substrate 41W-a and the lensed substrate 41W-b. The

lower surface layer

123 or 124 is formed on the lower surfaces of the lensed substrate 41W-a and the lensed substrate 41W-b. Then, as shown in FIG. 31, plasma activation treatment is performed on the entire lower surface of the back-side flat portion 172 including the lensed substrate 41W-a and the entire upper surface of the front-side flat portion 171 including the lensed substrate 41W-b as the bonding surfaces of the lensed substrates 41W-a and 41W-b. As the gas for the plasma activation treatment, a gas such as O can be used₂、N₂He, Ar or H₂And any plasma processing gas. Note, however, that when the same gas as the constituent elements of the upper surface layer 122 and the lower surface layer 123 is used as the gas used in the plasma activation treatment, this is preferable because the change (denaturation) of the upper surface layer 122 and the lower surface layer 123 themselves can be suppressed.

Then, as shown in B of FIG. 31, the back-side flat portion 172 of the lensed substrate 41W-a in the surface-activated state and the front-side flat portion 171 of the lensed substrate 41W-B are bonded together.

By the bonding process of the lensed substrate, hydrogen bonds are formed between the hydrogen of the OH group on the surface of the

lower surface layer

123 or 124 of the lensed substrate 41W-a and the hydrogen of the OH group on the surface of the

upper surface layer

122 or 125 of the lensed substrate 41W-b. Thereby, the substrate 41W-a with lens and the substrate 41W-b with lens are fixed together. The bonding treatment of the substrate with a lens may be performed under atmospheric pressure.

The substrate 41W-a with lens and the substrate 41W-b with lens subjected to the bonding process are annealed. Accordingly, dehydration condensation occurs from a state in which OH groups form hydrogen bonds, and an oxygen-based covalent bond is formed between the

lower surface layer

123 or 124 of the lensed substrate 41W-a and the

upper surface layer

122 or 125 of the lensed substrate 41W-b. Alternatively, the element contained in the

lower surface layer

123 or 124 of the lens-attached substrate 41W-a forms a covalent bond with the element contained in the

upper surface layer

122 or 125 of the lens-attached substrate 41W-b. By these keys, the two lensed substrates are firmly secured together. In this way, a covalent bond is formed between the

lower surface layer

123 or 124 of the upper lensed substrate 41W and the

upper surface layer

122 or 125 of the lower lensed substrate 41W, thereby fixing the two lensed substrates 41W together, which is referred to as direct bonding in this specification. The method of fixing a plurality of substrates with lenses over the entire substrate by a resin disclosed in patent document 1 has the following problems: the resin may undergo curing shrinkage and thermal expansion, and thus the lens may be deformed. On the other hand, since the direct bonding according to the present embodiment does not use resin when fixing the plurality of lensed substrates 41W, there is an action or effect of fixing the plurality of lensed substrates 41W without causing curing shrinkage and thermal expansion.

The annealing treatment may be performed under atmospheric pressure. The annealing treatment may be performed at a temperature of 100 ℃ or higher, 150 ℃ or higher, or 200 ℃ or higher to effect dehydration condensation. On the other hand, the annealing treatment may be performed at a temperature of 400 ℃ or less, 350 ℃ or less, or 300 ℃ or less from the viewpoint of preventing the energy-curable resin 191 for forming the lens resin portion 82 from being heated and suppressing outgassing from the energy-curable resin 191.

If the bonding process of the lens-attached substrate 41W or the direct bonding process of the lens-attached substrate 41W is performed under a condition other than atmospheric pressure, when the bonded lens-attached substrate 41W-a and lens-attached substrate 41W-b are returned to the atmosphere of atmospheric pressure, pressure differences are generated in the space between the bonded lens resin portion 82 and outside the lens resin portion 82. Due to this pressure difference, pressure is applied to the lens resin portion 82. Therefore, there is a problem that the lens resin portion 82 is deformed.

When the bonding process of the lens-equipped substrate 41W or the direct bonding process of the lens-equipped substrate 41W is performed under the atmospheric pressure condition, there are the following actions and effects: deformation of the lens resin portion 82 which may occur when bonding is performed under conditions other than atmospheric pressure can be avoided.

When the substrates subjected to the plasma activation treatment are directly bonded (i.e., bonded by plasma), since fluidity and thermal expansion, for example, when a resin is used as an adhesive agent, can be suppressed, positional accuracy when the lensed substrate 41W-a and the lensed substrate 41W-b are bonded can be improved.

As described above, the upper surface layer 122 or the lower surface layer 123 is formed on the backside flat portion 172 of the lensed substrate 41W-a and the front side flat portion 171 of the lensed substrate 41W-b. The upper surface layer 122 and the lower surface layer 123 are in a state in which dangling bonds are easily formed due to the plasma activation treatment performed previously. That is, the lower surface layer 123 formed on the back-side flat portion 172 of the lens-attached substrate 41W-a and the upper surface layer 122 formed on the front-side flat portion 171 of the lens-attached substrate 41W-b also have an effect of increasing the bonding strength.

In addition, when the upper surface layer 122 or the lower surface layer 123 is formed of an oxide film, no plasma (O) occurs₂) The effect of the resulting change in the properties of the film. For this reason, there is an effect of suppressing corrosion due to plasma with respect to the lens resin portion 82.

As described above, the lens-equipped substrate 41W-a in the substrate state in which the plurality of lens-equipped substrates 41a are formed and the lens-equipped substrate 41W-b in the substrate state in which the plurality of lens-equipped substrates 41b are formed are directly bonded after the surface activation treatment by plasma (that is, the substrates are bonded using plasma bonding).

Fig. 32 shows a first lamination method for laminating 5 substrates 41a to 41e with lenses corresponding to the laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 13 in a substrate state using the bonding method of the substrates 41W with lenses in a substrate state described with reference to fig. 31.

First, as shown in a of fig. 32, the lensed substrate 41W-e is prepared in a state of being positioned on the lowermost substrate of the laminated lens structure 11.

Next, as shown in B of fig. 32, the lensed substrate 41W-d in the substrate state located at the second layer from the lower side of the laminated lens structure 11 is bonded to the lensed substrate 41W-e in the substrate state.

Next, as shown in C of fig. 32, the lensed substrate 41W-C in the substrate state located at the third layer from the lower side of the laminated lens structure 11 is bonded to the lensed substrate 41W-d in the substrate state.

Next, as shown in D of fig. 32, the lensed substrate 41W-b in the substrate state located at the fourth layer from the lower side of the laminated lens structure 11 is bonded to the lensed substrate 41W-c in the substrate state.

Next, as shown in E of fig. 32, the lens 41W-a in the substrate state located at the fifth layer from the lower side of the laminated lens structure 11 is bonded to the substrate 41W-b with a lens in the substrate state.

Finally, as shown in F of fig. 32, the stop plate 51W located on the upper layer of the laminated lens structure 11 is bonded to the lensed substrate 41W-a in the substrate state.

As described above, the laminated lens structure 11W in the substrate state can be obtained by sequentially laminating 5 substrates 41W-a to 41W-e with lenses in the substrate state one by one from the substrate 41W with lenses in the lower layer of the laminated lens structure 11 to the substrate 41W with lenses in the upper layer.

Fig. 33 shows a second lamination method for laminating 5 substrates 41a to 41e with lenses corresponding to the laminated lens structure 11 shown in fig. 13 in a substrate state using the bonding method for the substrates 41W with lenses in a substrate state described with reference to fig. 31.

First, as shown in a of fig. 33, an aperture plate 51W positioned on the upper layer of the substrate 41a with lenses of the laminated lens structure 11 is prepared.

Next, as shown in B of fig. 33, the substrate 41W-a with lens in the state of the substrate positioned on the uppermost layer of the laminated lens structure 11 is turned upside down and then bonded to the diaphragm plate 51W.

Next, as shown in C of fig. 33, the lensed substrate 41W-b in the substrate state located at the second layer from the upper side of the laminated lens structure 11 is turned upside down and then bonded to the lensed substrate 41W-a in the substrate state.

Next, as shown in D of fig. 33, the lensed substrate 41W-c in the substrate state of the third layer from the upper side of the laminated lens structure 11 is turned upside down and then bonded to the lensed substrate 41W-b in the substrate state.

Next, as shown in E of fig. 33, the substrate on which the lenses 41W-d in the substrate state of the fourth layer from the upper side of the laminated lens structure 11 are placed is inverted up and down, and then bonded to the substrate-on-substrate 41W-c in the substrate state.

Finally, as shown in F of fig. 33, the lensed substrate 41W-e in the substrate state located at the fifth layer from the upper side of the laminated lens structure 11 is turned upside down and then bonded to the lensed substrate 41W-d in the substrate state.

In this way, by sequentially laminating 5 substrates 41W-a to 41W-e with lenses in a substrate state from the upper substrate 41W with lenses to the lower substrate 41W with lenses of the laminated lens structure 11 one by one, the laminated lens structure 11W in a substrate state can be obtained.

The 5 lens-equipped substrates 41W-a to 41W-e to be laminated by the lamination method explained by fig. 32 or fig. 33 are singulated in module units or chip units using a blade, a laser, or the like, thereby obtaining a laminated lens structure 11 in which the 5 lens-equipped substrates 41a to 41e are laminated.

<12. eighth and ninth embodiments of the camera module >

In the explanation of fig. 34 and 35, only a portion different from the camera module 1D shown in fig. 13 will be explained.

In the camera module 1H shown in fig. 34 and the camera module 1J shown in fig. 35, a part of the structural member 73 of the camera module 1D shown in fig. 13 is replaced with a different structure.

In the camera module 1H shown in fig. 34, a part of the structural member 73 of the camera module 1J is replaced with

structural members

301a and 301b and a light transmissive substrate 302.

Specifically, the structural member 301a is arranged in a part of the upper side of the light receiving element 12. The light receiving element 12 and the light transmissive substrate 302 are fixed by a structural member 301 a. The structural member 301a is, for example, an epoxy resin.

The structural member 301b is disposed above the light transmissive substrate 302. The light transmissive substrate 302 and the laminated lens structure 11 are fixed by the structural member 301 b. The structural member 301b is, for example, an epoxy resin.

On the other hand, in the camera module 1J shown in fig. 35, a part of the structural member 301a of the camera module 1H shown in fig. 34 is replaced with a resin layer 311 having light transmissivity.

The resin layer 311 is disposed on the entire upper surface of the light receiving element 12. The light receiving element 12 and the light transmissive substrate 302 are fixed by a resin layer 311. The resin layer 311 disposed on the entire upper surface of the light receiving element 12 has the following actions and effects: while the stress applied to the light transmissive substrate 302 from the upper side of the light transmissive substrate 302 is not applied concentratedly in a partial region of the light receiving element 12, the stress is distributed over the entire surface of the light receiving element 12.

The structural member 301b is disposed above the light transmissive substrate 302. The light transmissive substrate 302 and the laminated lens structure 11 are fixed by the structural member 301 b.

The camera module 1H shown in fig. 34 and the camera module 1J shown in fig. 35 include a light transmissive substrate 302 on the upper side of the light receiving element 12. The light transmissive substrate 302 has the following actions or effects: for example, in the manufacture of the camera module 1H or 1J, scratching of the light receiving element 12 is suppressed.

<13. tenth embodiment of Camera Module >

In a camera module 1J shown in fig. 36, a laminated lens structure 11 is housed in a lens barrel 74. The lens barrel 74 is fixed to a moving member 332 that moves along the shaft 331 by a fixing member 333. When the lens barrel 74 is moved in the axial direction of the shaft 331 by a drive motor (not shown), the distance from the laminated lens structure 11 to the imaging surface of the light receiving element 12 is adjusted.

The lens barrel 74, the shaft 331, the moving member 332, and the fixing member 333 are housed in a housing 334. The protective substrate 335 is disposed above the light-receiving element 12, and the protective substrate 335 and the case 334 are connected by an adhesive 336.

The mechanism that moves the laminated lens structure 11 has an action or effect that allows an autofocus operation to be performed when an image is taken using the camera of the camera module 1J.

<14. eleventh embodiment of Camera Module >

A camera module 1L shown in fig. 37 is a camera module to which a focus adjustment mechanism based on a piezoelectric element is added.

Specifically, in the camera module 1L, the structural member 301a is arranged in a part of the upper side of the light receiving element 12, similarly to the camera module 1H shown in fig. 34. The light receiving element 12 and the light transmissive substrate 302 are fixed by a structural member 301 a. The structural member 301a is, for example, an epoxy resin.

The piezoelectric element 351 is disposed above the light transmissive substrate 302. The light transmissive substrate 302 and the laminated lens structure 11 are fixed by the piezoelectric element 351.

In the camera module 1L, when a voltage is applied or not applied to the piezoelectric element 351 arranged on the lower side of the laminated lens structure 11, the laminated lens structure 11 can move up and down. The means for moving the laminated lens structure 11 is not limited to the piezoelectric element 351, but other means that changes in shape when a voltage is applied or interrupted may be used. For example, MEMS devices may be used.

The mechanism that moves the laminated lens structure 11 has an action or effect that allows an autofocus operation to be performed when an image is taken using the camera of the camera module 1L.

<15. Effect of the present Structure compared with other structures >

The laminated lens structure 11 is a structure in which the substrate 41 for fixing the lens is directly bonded (hereinafter referred to as the present structure). The operation and effect of the present structure will be described compared with other structures of the lenticular substrate formed with lenses.

< comparative Structure example 1>

Fig. 38 is a cross-sectional view of the wafer level laminated structure disclosed in fig. 14(b) as a first substrate structure for comparison with the present structure (hereinafter referred to as comparative structure example 1) and is JP 2011-one 138089A (hereinafter referred to as comparative document 1).

The wafer-level laminated structure 1000 shown in fig. 38 is a structure in which two lens array substrates 1021 are laminated on a sensor array substrate 1012 (in which a plurality of imaging elements 1011 are arranged on a wafer substrate 1010) via columnar spacers 1022. Each lens array substrate 1021 includes a lensed substrate 1031 and lenses 1032 formed in a plurality of through-hole portions formed in the lensed substrate 1031.

< comparative Structure example 2>

Fig. 39 is a sectional view of the lens array substrate disclosed in fig. 5(a) as a second substrate structure for comparison with the present structure (hereinafter referred to as comparative structure example 2) and is JP 2009 and 279790A (hereinafter referred to as comparative document 2).

In the lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39, the lenses 1053 are disposed in a plurality of through holes 1052 formed in a plate-shaped substrate 1051. Each lens 1053 is formed of a resin (energy curable resin) 1054, and the resin 1054 is also formed on the upper surface of the substrate 1051.

A method of manufacturing the lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39 will be briefly described with reference to fig. 40.

A of fig. 40 shows a state where the substrate 1051 formed with the plurality of through holes 1052 is placed on the lower die 1061. The lower mold 1061 is a mold that presses the resin 1054 from the lower side to the upper side in a subsequent step.

B of fig. 40 shows a state in which the upper die 1062 is placed on the substrate 1051 and the press molding is performed using the lower die 1061 and the upper die 1062 after the resin 1054 is applied to the inside of the plurality of through holes 1052 and the upper surface of the substrate 1051. The upper die 1062 is a die for pressing the resin 1054 from the upper side to the lower side. In the state shown in B of fig. 40, the resin 1054 is cured.

C of fig. 40 shows a state in which the upper mold 1062 and the lower mold 1061 are separated from each other after the resin 1054 is cured and the lens array substrate 1041 is completed.

The lens array substrate 1041 is characterized in that: (1) the resin 1054 formed at the position of the through-hole 1052 of the substrate 1051 forms a lens 1053, and a plurality of lenses 1053 are formed in the substrate 1051, and (2) a thin layer of the resin 1054 is formed on the entire upper surface of the substrate 1051 between the plurality of lenses 1053.

When a plurality of lens array substrates 1041 are laminated to form a structure, there is a role or effect that a thin layer of the resin 1054 formed on the entire upper surface of the substrate 1051 serves as an adhesive for attaching the substrates.

Further, when a plurality of lens array substrates 1041 are laminated to form a structure, since the area of the bonded substrate can be increased as compared with the wafer level laminated structure 1000 shown in fig. 38 as comparative structure example 1, the base materials can be bonded with stronger force.

< Effect of resin in comparative Structure example 2>

In comparative document 2 disclosing a lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39 as comparative configuration example 2, the following operation of a resin 1054 used as a lens 1053 is disclosed.

In comparative structural example 2, an energy curable resin was used as the resin 1054. Then, a photocurable resin is used as an example of the energy curable resin. When a photocurable resin is used as the energy curable resin and the resin 1054 is irradiated with UV light, the resin 1054 is cured. Due to curing, curing shrinkage occurs in the resin 1054.

However, according to the structure of the lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39, even when curing shrinkage of the resin 1054 occurs, since the substrate 1051 is interposed between the plurality of lenses 1053, it is possible to prevent a change in the distance between the lenses 1053 caused by the curing shrinkage of the resin 1054. As a result, warping of the lens array substrate 1041 on which the plurality of lenses 1053 are formed can be suppressed.

< comparative Structure example 3>

Fig. 41 is a cross-sectional view of the lens array substrate disclosed in fig. 1 as a third substrate structure for comparison with the present structure (hereinafter referred to as comparative structure example 3) and is JP 2010-256563A (hereinafter referred to as comparative document 3).

In the lens array substrate 1081 shown in fig. 41, lenses 1093 are provided in a plurality of through holes 1092 formed in a plate-like substrate 1091. Each lens 1093 is formed of a resin (energy curable resin) 1094, and the resin 1094 is also formed on the upper surface of the substrate 1091 in which the through hole 1092 is not formed.

A method of manufacturing the lens array substrate 1081 shown in fig. 41 will be briefly described with reference to fig. 42.

Fig. 42a shows a state in which a substrate 1091 formed with a plurality of through holes 1092 is placed on the lower mold 1101. The lower mold 1101 is a mold that presses the resin 1094 from the lower side to the upper side in a subsequent step.

B of fig. 42 shows a state in which the upper mold 1102 is placed on the substrate 1091 after the resin 1094 is applied to the insides of the plurality of through holes 1092 and the upper surface of the substrate 1091 and press-molding is performed using the upper mold 1102 and the lower mold 1101. The upper die 1102 is a die for pressing the resin 1094 from the upper side to the lower side. In a state shown in B of fig. 42, the resin 1094 is cured.

C of fig. 42 shows a state in which the upper mold 1102 and the lower mold 1101 are separated from each other and the lens array substrate 1081 is completed after the resin 1094 is cured.

The lens array substrate 1081 is characterized in that: (1) the resin 1094 formed at the position of the through hole 1092 of the substrate 1091 forms a lens 1093, and a plurality of lenses 1093 are formed in the substrate 1091, and (2) a thin layer of the resin 1094 is formed on the entire upper surface of the substrate 1091 between the plurality of lenses 1093.

[ Effect of the resin in comparative Structure example 3 ]

In comparative document 3 disclosing a lens array substrate 1081 shown in fig. 41 as comparative configuration example 3, the following effects of a resin 1094 used as a lens 1093 are disclosed.

In comparative structural example 3, an energy curable resin was used as the resin 1094. Then, a photocurable resin is used as an example of the energy curable resin. When a photocurable resin is used as the energy curable resin and the resin 1094 is irradiated with UV light, the resin 1094 is cured. By the curing operation, curing shrinkage occurs in the resin 1094.

However, according to the structure of the lens array substrate 1081 shown in fig. 41, even when curing shrinkage of the resin 1094 occurs, since the substrate 1091 is interposed between the plurality of lenses 1093, it is possible to prevent variation in the distance between the lenses 1093 caused by curing shrinkage of the resin 1094. As a result, warping of the lens array substrate 1081 on which the plurality of lenses 1093 are formed can be suppressed.

In this way,

comparative documents

2 and 3 disclose curing shrinkage that occurs when a photocurable resin is cured. Note that, in addition to

comparative documents

2 and 3, curing shrinkage occurring at the time of curing of a photocurable resin is also disclosed in, for example, JP 2013-.

Further, the problem that the resin undergoes curing shrinkage when the resin is molded into a lens shape and the molded resin is cured is not limited to the photocurable resin. For example, even in the case of a thermosetting resin as one of the energy curable resins, resin curing shrinkage occurring during curing becomes a problem, similarly to a photocurable resin. This problem is also disclosed in, for example,

comparative documents

1 and 3 and JP 2010-204631A.

< comparative Structure example 4>

Fig. 43 is a cross-sectional view of the lens array substrate disclosed in fig. 6 of comparative document 2 as a fourth substrate structure (hereinafter referred to as comparative structure example 4) for comparison with the present structure.

The lens array substrate 1121 shown in fig. 43 is different from the lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39 in that the shape of the substrate 1141 other than a part of the through hole 1042 protrudes to the lower side and the upper side, and a resin 1144 is also formed in a part of the lower surface of the substrate 1141. The other structure of the lens array substrate 1121 is the same as that of the lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39.

Fig. 44 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the lens array substrate 1121 shown in fig. 43, and corresponds to fig. 40B.

Fig. 44 shows a state in which press molding is performed using an upper die 1152 and a lower die 1151 after resin 1144 is applied to the inside of the plurality of through holes 1142 and the upper surface of the substrate 1141. Resin 1144 is also injected between the lower surface of the substrate 1141 and the lower mold 1151. In the state shown in fig. 44, the resin 1144 is cured.

The lens array substrate 1121 is characterized in that: (1) the resin 1144 formed at the position of the through hole 1142 of the substrate 1141 forms a lens 1143, and a plurality of lenses 1143 are formed in the substrate 1141, and (2) a thin layer of the resin 1144 is formed in a part of the lower surface of the substrate 1141 and on the entire upper surface of the substrate 1141 between the plurality of lenses 1143.

< Effect of the resin in comparative Structure example 4>

In comparative document 2 disclosing a lens array substrate 1121 shown in fig. 43 as comparative configuration example 4, the following actions of a resin 1144 used as a lens 1143 are disclosed.

In the lens array substrate 1121 shown in fig. 43 as comparative structural example 4, a photocurable resin as an example of an energy curable resin was used as the resin 1144. Then, when the resin 1144 is irradiated with UV light, the resin 1144 is cured. Due to curing, curing shrinkage occurs in the resin 1144 similarly to comparative structural examples 2 and 3.

However, in the lens array substrate 1121 of comparative structural example 4, a thin layer of the resin 1144 is formed in a certain region of the lower surface of the substrate 1141 and on the entire upper surface of the substrate 1141 between the plurality of lenses 1143.

In this way, according to the structure in which the resin 1144 is formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 1141, the warp direction of the entire lens array substrate 1121 can be canceled.

On the other hand, in the lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39 as comparative configuration example 2, a thin layer of the resin 1054 is formed on the entire upper surface of the substrate 1051 located between the plurality of lenses 1053, but a thin layer of the resin 1054 is not formed at all on the lower surface of the substrate 1051.

Therefore, according to the lens array substrate 1121 shown in fig. 43, a lens array substrate with a reduced warpage amount can be provided as compared with the lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39.

< comparative Structure example 5>

Fig. 45 is a sectional view of the lens array substrate disclosed in fig. 9 of comparative document 2 as a fifth substrate structure (hereinafter referred to as comparative structure example 5) for comparison with the present structure.

The lens array substrate 1161 shown in fig. 45 is different from the lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39 in that a resin projection region 1175 is formed on the rear surface of the substrate near a through hole 1172 formed in the substrate 1171. The other structure of the lens array substrate 1161 is the same as the structure of the lens array substrate 1041 shown in fig. 39.

Note that the lens array substrate 1161 of fig. 45 shows a state after being singulated.

The lens array substrate 1161 is characterized in that: (1) the resin 1174 formed at the position of the through hole 1172 of the substrate 1171 forms a lens 1173, and a plurality of lenses 1173 are formed in the substrate 1171, and (2) a thin layer of the resin 1174 is formed in a part of the lower surface of the substrate 1171 and on the entire upper surface of the substrate 1171 between the plurality of lenses 1173.

< Effect of the resin in comparative Structure example 5>

In comparative document 2 disclosing a lens array substrate 1161 shown in fig. 45 as comparative configuration example 5, the following actions of a resin 1174 used as a lens 1173 are disclosed.

In a lens array substrate 1161 shown in fig. 45 as comparative structural example 5, a photocurable resin as an example of an energy curable resin was used as a resin 1174. Then, when the resin 1174 is irradiated with UV light, the resin 1174 is cured. Due to curing, curing shrinkage occurs in the resin 1174 similarly to the comparative structural examples 2 and 3.

However, in the lens array substrate 1171 of comparative structural example 5, a thin layer of resin 1174 (resin protrusion region 1175) is formed in a certain region of the lower surface of the substrate 1171 and on the entire upper surface of the substrate 1171 located between the plurality of lenses 1173. Thereby, a lens array substrate in which the warp direction of the entire lens array substrate 1171 is canceled and the warp amount is reduced can be provided.

< comparison of action of resin in comparative Structure examples 2 to 5>

The effects of the resins of comparative structural examples 2 to 5 can be summarized as follows.

(1) As in comparative structural examples 2 and 3, in the case of the structure in which the resin layer is disposed on the entire upper surface of the lens array substrate, warpage occurs in the substrate on which the plurality of lenses are formed.

Fig. 46 is a schematic view showing a structure in which a resin layer is arranged on the entire upper surface of a lens array substrate as in comparative structural examples 2 and 3, and is a view explaining the role of the resin serving as a lens.

As shown in a and B of fig. 46, curing shrinkage occurs when irradiation with UV light is performed for curing in a layer of a photocurable resin 1212 disposed on the upper surface of a lens array substrate 1211 (lenses and through-holes not shown). As a result, a force due to the shrinkage direction of the photocurable resin 1212 occurs within the layer of the photocurable resin 1212.

On the other hand, even when irradiated with UV light, the lens array substrate 1211 itself does not contract or expand. That is, no force due to the substrate occurs in the lens array substrate 1211 itself. As a result, the lens array substrate 1211 warps in a downwardly convex shape as shown in C of fig. 46.

(2) However, in the case of the structure in which the resin layers are arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of the lens array substrate as in comparative structure examples 4 and 5, since the warping directions of the lens array substrate are cancelled out, the amount of warping of the lens array substrate can be reduced as compared with comparative structure examples 2 and 3.

Fig. 47 is a schematic view showing a structure in which resin layers are arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of a lens array substrate as in comparative structural examples 4 and 5, and is a view explaining the role of the resin used as a lens.

As shown in a and B of fig. 47, curing shrinkage occurs when the layer of the photocurable resin 1212 disposed on the upper surface of the lens array substrate 1211 is irradiated with UV light to be cured. As a result, a force due to the shrinkage direction of the photocurable resin 1212 occurs in the layer of the photocurable resin 1212 disposed on the upper surface of the lens array substrate 1211. Thereby, a force to warp the lens array substrate 1211 in a downwardly convex shape acts on the upper surface side of the lens array substrate 1211.

On the other hand, even when irradiated with UV light, the lens array substrate 1211 itself does not contract or expand. That is, no force due to the substrate occurs in the lens array substrate 1211 itself.

On the other hand, curing shrinkage occurs when the layer of the photocurable resin 1212 disposed on the lower surface of the lens array substrate 1211 is irradiated with UV light to be cured. As a result, a force due to the shrinkage direction of the photocurable resin 1212 occurs in the layer of the photocurable resin 1212 disposed on the lower surface of the lens array substrate 1211. Thereby, a force to warp the lens array substrate 1211 in an upwardly convex shape acts on the lower surface side of the lens array substrate 1211.

The force of warping the lens array substrate 1211 in a downwardly convex shape acting on the upper surface side of the lens array substrate 1211 and the force of warping the lens array substrate 1211 in a upwardly convex shape acting on the lower surface side of the lens array substrate 1211 cancel each other out.

As a result, as shown in C of fig. 47, the warpage amount of the lens array substrate 1211 in comparative structural examples 4 and 5 is smaller than that in comparative structural examples 2 and 3 shown in C of fig. 46.

In this way, the force of warping the lens array substrate and the amount of warping of the lens array substrate are affected by the relative relationship between:

(1) a direction and a magnitude of a force acting on the lens array substrate on an upper surface of the lens array substrate; and

(2) the direction and magnitude of the force acting on the lens array substrate on the lower surface of the lens array substrate.

< comparative Structure example 6>

Therefore, for example, as shown in a of fig. 48, a lens array substrate structure may be considered in which the layer and area of the photocurable resin 1212 disposed on the upper surface of the lens array substrate 1211 are the same as those of the photocurable resin 1212 disposed on the lower surface of the lens array substrate 1211. This lens array substrate structure is referred to as a sixth substrate structure for comparison with the present structure (hereinafter referred to as comparative structure example 6).

In comparative configuration example 6, a force due to the shrinkage direction of the photocurable resin 1212 occurs in the layer of the photocurable resin 1212 disposed on the upper surface of the lens array substrate 1211. No force due to the substrate occurs in the lens array substrate 1211 itself. Thereby, a force to warp the lens array substrate 1211 in a downwardly convex shape acts on the upper surface side of the lens array substrate 1211.

On the other hand, a force due to the shrinkage direction of the photocurable resin 1212 occurs in the layer of the photocurable resin 1212 disposed on the lower surface of the lens array substrate 1211. No force due to the substrate occurs in the lens array substrate 1211 itself. Thereby, a force to warp the lens array substrate 1211 in an upwardly convex shape acts on the lower surface side of the lens array substrate 1211.

The two forces that warp the lens array substrate 1211 act in directions that cancel each other out further than the structure shown in fig. 47A. As a result, the force to warp the lens array substrate 1211 and the amount of warp of the lens array substrate 1211 are further reduced as compared with comparative structural examples 4 and 5.

< comparative Structure example 7>

However, in practice, the shapes of the lensed substrates forming the stacked lens structure assembled in the camera module are not the same. More specifically, in forming a plurality of lensed substrates of a stacked lens structure, for example, the thickness of the lensed substrate and the size of the through-hole may be different, and the thickness, shape, volume, etc. of the lens formed in the through-hole may be different. Further, the film thickness and the like of the photocurable resin formed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate with lenses may be different for each substrate with lenses.

Fig. 49 is a cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure formed by laminating 3 substrates with lenses as a seventh substrate structure (hereinafter referred to as comparative structure example 7). In this laminated lens structure, similarly to comparative structural example 6 shown in fig. 48, the layers and areas of the photocurable resins disposed on the upper surface and the lower surface of each substrate with lenses are the same.

The laminated lens structure 1311 shown in fig. 49 includes 3 substrates 1321 to 1323 with lenses.

Hereinafter, of the 3 lensed substrates 1321 to 1323, the lensed substrate 1321 of the intermediate layer is referred to as a first lensed substrate 1321, the lensed substrate 1322 of the uppermost layer is referred to as a second lensed substrate 1322, and the lensed substrate 1323 of the lowermost layer is referred to as a third lensed substrate 1323.

The substrate thickness and the lens thickness of the second lens-equipped substrate 1322 disposed on the uppermost layer are different from those of the third lens-equipped substrate 1323 disposed on the lowermost layer.

More specifically, the lens thickness in the third lens-equipped substrate 1323 is larger than the lens thickness in the second lens-equipped substrate 1322. Therefore, the substrate thickness in the third lens-equipped substrate 1323 is larger than the substrate thickness in the second lens-equipped substrate 1322.

The resin 1341 is formed on the entire contact surface between the first lensed substrate 1321 and the second lensed substrate 1322 and the entire contact surface between the first lensed substrate 1321 and the third lensed substrate 1323.

The cross-sectional shape of the through-holes of the 3 lensed substrates 1321 to 1323 is a so-called forward widening shape in which the lower surface of the substrate is wider than the upper surface of the substrate.

The operation of the 3 lensed substrates 1321 to 1323 having different shapes will be described with reference to fig. 50.

Fig. 50 a to C are schematic diagrams illustrating the laminated lens structure 1311 illustrated in fig. 49.

As in the laminated lens structure 1311, when the second lens-equipped substrate 1322 and the third lens-equipped substrate 1323 having different substrate thicknesses are arranged on the upper surface and the lower surface of the first lens-equipped substrate 1321, respectively, the force with which the laminated lens structure 1311 warps and the amount of warping of the laminated lens structure 1311 vary depending on the position in the thickness direction of the laminated lens structure 1311 at which the layer of the resin 1341 exists across the entire contact surfaces of the 3 lens-equipped substrates 1321 to 1323.

When the layers of the resin 1341 present in the entire contact surfaces of the 3 lensed substrates 1321 to 1323 are asymmetrical with respect to a line passing through the center line of the laminated lens structure 1311 (i.e., the midpoint in the thickness direction of the laminated lens structure 1311) and extending in the plane direction of the substrates, the forces generated due to curing shrinkage of the resin 1341 disposed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the first lensed substrate 1321 are difficult to completely cancel out as shown in C of fig. 48. As a result, the laminated lens structure 1311 warps in an arbitrary direction.

For example, when the two layers of resin 1341 disposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the first lens-carrying substrate 1321 are offset in the upper direction than the center line in the thickness direction of the laminated lens structure 1311, if curing shrinkage occurs in the two layers of resin 1341, the laminated lens structure 1311 warps in a downwardly convex shape as shown in C of fig. 50.

Further, when the sectional shape of the through hole in the substrate of a thinner thickness among the second lens-provided substrate 1322 and the third lens-provided substrate 1323 is a shape widening toward the first lens-provided substrate 1321, the possibility of a defect or damage of the lens increases.

In the example shown in fig. 49, the sectional shape of the through hole in the second lens-equipped substrate 1322 having a thinner thickness among the second lens-equipped substrate 1322 and the third lens-equipped substrate 1323 is a forward-widening shape that widens toward the first lens-equipped substrate 1321. In this shape, when curing shrinkage occurs in the two layers of resin 1341 on the upper and lower surfaces of the first lens-equipped substrate 1321, a force warping in a downwardly convex shape as shown in C of fig. 50 acts on the laminated lens structure 1311, and thus the force is applied to the second lens-equipped substrate 1322 as a force separating the lenses and the substrate, as shown in D of fig. 50. By this action, the possibility of defects or damage to the lens 1332 of the second lens-equipped substrate 1322 increases.

Next, a case where the resin thermally expands will be considered.

< comparative Structure example 8>

Fig. 51 is a cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure formed by laminating 3 lensed substrates as an eighth substrate structure (hereinafter referred to as comparative structure example 8). In this laminated lens structure, similarly to comparative structural example 6 shown in fig. 48, the layers and areas of the photocurable resins disposed on the upper surface and the lower surface of each substrate with lenses are the same.

The comparative structural example 8 shown in fig. 51 is different from the comparative structural example 7 shown in fig. 49 in that the cross-sectional shape of the through-holes of the 3 lensed substrates 1321 to 1323 is a so-called downwardly narrowing shape in which the lower surface of the substrate is narrower than the upper surface of the substrate.

Fig. 52a to C are schematic diagrams illustrating the laminated lens structure 1311 illustrated in fig. 51.

When a user actually uses the camera module, the temperature in the housing of the camera rises as the power consumption accompanying the operation of the camera increases, and the temperature of the camera module also rises. As the temperature rises, the resin 1341 disposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the first lens-carrying substrate 1321 of the laminated lens structure 1311 shown in fig. 51 thermally expands.

Even when the area and thickness of the resin 1341 disposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the first lensed substrate 1321 are the same as in a of fig. 48, when the layers of the resin 1341 present in the entire contact surfaces of the 3 lensed substrates 1321 to 1323 are disposed asymmetrically with respect to a line passing through the center line of the laminated lens structure 1311 (i.e., the midpoint in the thickness direction of the laminated lens structure 1311) and extending in the plane direction of the substrate, the action of forces due to thermal expansion of the resin 1341 disposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the first lensed substrate 1321 is difficult to completely cancel out as shown in C of fig. 48. As a result, the laminated lens structure 1311 warps in an arbitrary direction.

For example, when the two layers of resin 1341 on the upper and lower surfaces of the first lens-carrying substrate 1321 are arranged to be offset in the upper direction than the center line in the thickness direction of the laminated lens structure 1311, if thermal expansion occurs in the two layers of resin 1341, the laminated lens structure 1311 warps in an upwardly convex shape as shown in C of fig. 52.

Further, in the example shown in fig. 51, the sectional shape of the through hole in the second lens-provided substrate 1322 having a thinner thickness among the second lens-provided substrate 1322 and the third lens-provided substrate 1323 is a downwardly narrowing shape that decreases toward the first lens-provided substrate 1321. In this shape, when the two layers of resin 1341 on the upper surface and the lower surface of the first lens-carrying substrate 1321 are thermally expanded, a force warping in an upwardly convex shape acts on the laminated lens structure 1311, and the force is applied to the second lens-carrying substrate 1322 in a direction separating the lenses and the substrate, as shown in D of fig. 52. By this action, the possibility of defects or damage to the lens 1332 of the second lens-equipped substrate 1322 increases.

< present Structure >

FIG. 53 is a view showing a laminated lens structure 1371 including 3 lens-equipped substrates 1361 to 1363 according to the present configuration.

A of fig. 53 shows a structure corresponding to the laminated lens structure 1311 shown in fig. 49, and shows a structure in which the sectional shape of the through-hole is a so-called forward-widening shape. On the other hand, B of fig. 53 shows a structure corresponding to the laminated lens structure 1311 shown in fig. 51, and shows a structure in which the sectional shape of the through-hole is a so-called narrowing-down shape.

Fig. 54 is a schematic diagram showing the laminated lens structure 1371 shown in fig. 53 to explain the action of the structure.

The laminated lens structure 1371 has a structure in which a second lenticular substrate 1362 is disposed above the first lenticular substrate 1361 in the middle position, and a third lenticular substrate 1363 is disposed below the first lenticular substrate 1361.

The substrate thickness and the lens thickness of the second substrate with lenses 1362 disposed on the uppermost layer are different from those of the third substrate with lenses 1363 disposed on the lowermost layer. More specifically, the lens thickness of the third lensed substrate 1363 is greater than the lens thickness of the second lensed substrate 1362, and thus, the substrate thickness of the third lensed substrate 1363 is greater than the substrate thickness of the second lensed substrate 1362.

In the laminated lens structure 1371 of the present structure, a direct bonding method of substrates is used as a method for fixing substrates of lenses. In other words, the substrate with lenses to be fixed is subjected to plasma activation processing, and the two substrates with lenses to be fixed are subjected to plasma bonding. In other words, a silicon oxide film is formed on the surfaces of the two lensed substrates to be laminated, and a hydroxyl group is bonded thereto. Then, the two substrates with lenses are bonded together, and heated, dehydrated, and condensed. In this way, the two lensed substrates are directly bonded by silicon-oxygen covalent bonds.

Therefore, in the laminated lens structure 1371 of the present structure, a resin-based attaching method is not used as a method for fixing the substrate of the lens. Thus, the resin for forming the lenses or the resin for bonding the substrates is not disposed between the substrates with lenses. Further, since the resin is not disposed on the upper surface or the lower surface of the substrate with a lens, thermal expansion or curing shrinkage of the resin does not occur in the upper surface or the lower surface of the substrate with a lens.

Therefore, in the laminated lens structure 1371, even when the second lens-provided substrate 1362 and the third lens-provided substrate 1363 having different lens thicknesses and different substrate thicknesses are arranged on the upper surface and the lower surface of the first lens-provided substrate 1351, respectively, substrate warpage due to curing shrinkage and substrate warpage due to thermal expansion as in comparative structure examples 1 to 8 do not occur.

That is, the present structure in which the substrate with the lens is directly bonded has the following actions and effects: even when lensed substrates having different lens thicknesses and different substrate thicknesses are laminated above and below, substrate warpage can be suppressed to a greater extent than in the above-described comparative structural examples 1 to 8.

<16. various modifications >

Other modifications of the above embodiment will be described below.

For example, when the laminated lens structure in a substrate state is singulated by using a blade, a laser, or the like, chipping may occur in the support substrate of the lens-attached substrate of each layer. For example, when the fracture advances to the through hole, the flexural strength of the substrate with the lens may be lowered, and the laminated lens structure may be broken when assembling the camera module or the like.

In addition, in the case of singulation using blade dicing or the like, since the substrate with lenses is laminated to have a considerable thickness, the load of dicing may increase; as a result, process variations may occur, for example, due to blade degradation, and the yield associated with chipping may be reduced.

In view of this, an example of countermeasures against fragmentation will be described below.

< first countermeasure against crushing >

First, referring to FIGS. 55-58, a first countermeasure against crushing will be described.

Fig. 55 is a schematic diagram of a cross section of a laminated lens structure 1401. Note that in fig. 55, portions necessary for explanation are mainly shown, and portions unnecessary for explanation are appropriately omitted in the illustration.

In the laminated lens structure 1401, the substrates 1411a to 1411c with lenses are laminated in three layers. The lens resin part 1422a is formed inside the through hole 1423a in the support substrate 1421a of the lensed substrate 1411 a. A light shielding film 1425a is formed on the sidewall of the via 1423 a. At an end portion of the upper surface of the support substrate 1421a, a trench 1424a is formed around the periphery of the through hole 1423 a.

The

substrate

1411b and 1411c with lenses also have the same or similar configuration as the substrate 1411a with lenses, and the description thereof is omitted. Note that although an example in which the shapes of the lens resin portions 1422a to 1422c are the same is shown in fig. 55 for simplifying the drawing, the shapes of the lens resin portions 1422a to 1422c may be arbitrarily set.

Note that in the case where the substrate 1411a to 1411c with lenses need not be separately distinguished, they are hereinafter simply referred to as substrates having lenses 1411. In the case where the support substrates 1421a to 1421c do not need to be distinguished individually, they are hereinafter simply referred to as support substrates 1421. In the case where it is not necessary to distinguish the lens resin portions 1422a to 1422c separately, they are simply referred to as lens resin portions 1422 hereinafter. In the case where it is not necessary to distinguish the through holes 1423a to 1423c separately, they are hereinafter simply referred to as through holes 1423. In the event that there is no need to separately distinguish trenches 1424 a-1424 c, they will be referred to hereinafter simply as trenches 1424.

< method for producing laminated lens Structure 1401 >

Next, referring to fig. 56 to 58, a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure 1401 will be described. Note that, hereinafter, steps related to countermeasures against crushing will be mainly described. The omitted steps are substantially the same as those described above.

First, as shown in a of fig. 56, a plurality of through holes 1423a are formed in the support substrate 1421W-a in a substrate state. As a method of processing the through hole 1423a, any of the aforementioned methods may be used. In addition, although only two through holes 1423a are shown in fig. 56 due to the limitation of space, a plurality of through holes 1423a are actually formed in the planar direction of the support substrate 1421W-a.

Further, using dry etching, a trench 1424a is formed in the upper surface of the support substrate 1421W-a so as to surround the periphery of each through-hole 1423 a.

It is sufficient that the groove 1424a surrounds each through hole 1423a at least inside the region surrounded by the dicing line (not shown). For example, inside a rectangular region surrounded by the dicing lines, a groove 1424a of a rectangular shape, a circular shape, or the like may be formed so as to surround each through hole 1423 a. Alternatively, grooves 1424a parallel to the scribe lines may be formed at both sides of each scribe line such that the scribe lines are sandwiched between the grooves 1424 a.

Next, as shown in B of fig. 56, a light shielding film 1425a is formed on the side wall of each through hole 1423 a.

Subsequently, as shown in C of fig. 56, a lens resin part 1422a is formed in each through hole 1423a by the aforementioned method.

In this manner, the substrate 1411W-a with a lens in a substrate state is manufactured. In addition, by the same or similar steps, lensed substrates 1411W-b and 1411W-c in a substrate state are fabricated.

Next, as shown in fig. 57, the lenticular substrates 1411W-a to 1411W-c are laminated by direct bonding by the aforementioned method to produce a laminated lens structure 1401W in a substrate state. In the laminated lens structure 1401W, the grooves 1424a to 1424c of the lensed substrates 1411W-a to 1411W-c are substantially aligned in the up-down direction.

Subsequently, as shown in fig. 58, the laminated lens structure 1401W in a substrate state is singulated in chip units by using a blade, a laser, or the like to obtain a plurality of laminated lens structures 1401. In this case, as shown by a broken line a1 in fig. 58, the region between the adjacent grooves 1424a to 1424c is cut along the cutting line. In this way, the chipping due to the cutting in the lens-equipped substrate 1411 of each layer is stopped by the grooves 1424a to 1424c, thereby preventing the chipping from proceeding to the through holes 1423a to 1423 c. As a result, the occurrence of a situation in which the flexural strength of the substrate with a lens may be lowered and the laminated lens structure may be broken at the time of assembling the camera module or in the like is prevented.

< second countermeasure against crushing >

Referring to FIGS. 59-62, a second strategy for combating fragmentation will now be described.

Fig. 59 is a schematic diagram of a cross section of a layered lens structure 1501. Note that in fig. 59, portions necessary for explanation are mainly shown, and portions unnecessary for explanation are appropriately omitted in the illustration.

In the laminated lens structure 1501, the substrates 1511a to 1511c with lenses are laminated in three layers. The lens resin portion 1522a is formed inside the through hole 1523a in the support substrate 1521a of the lensed substrate 1511 a. A light-shielding film 1525a is formed on the side wall of the via 1523 a. At an end portion of the upper surface of the support substrate 1521a, a trench 1524a is formed around the periphery of the via 1523 a.

The lenticular substrates 1511b and 1511c have the same or similar configuration as the lenticular substrate 1511a, and the description thereof is omitted. Note that although an example in which the shapes of the lens resin portions 1522a to 1522c are the same is shown in fig. 59 for the sake of simplifying the drawing, the shapes of the lens resin portions 1522a to 1522c may be arbitrarily set.

Note that in the case where the lenticular substrates 1511a to 1511c do not need to be distinguished separately, they are simply referred to as lenticular substrates 1511 hereinafter. In the case where the support substrates 1521a to 1521c do not need to be distinguished individually, they are hereinafter simply referred to as support substrates 1521. In the case where it is not necessary to distinguish the lens resin portions 1522a to 1522c separately, they are hereinafter simply referred to as lens resin portions 1522. In the case where it is not necessary to distinguish the through holes 1523a to 1523c individually, they are hereinafter simply referred to as through holes 1523. In the case where it is not necessary to separately distinguish the trenches 1524a to 1524c, they are hereinafter simply referred to as trenches 1524.

< method for producing laminated lens Structure 1501 >

Referring to fig. 60 to 62, a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure 1501 will be described. Note that, hereinafter, steps related to countermeasures against fragmentation will be mainly described. The omitted steps are substantially the same as those described above.

First, as shown in a of fig. 60, a plurality of through holes 1523a are formed in a support substrate 1521W-a in a substrate state. As a method of processing the through hole 1523a, any of the aforementioned methods can be used. In addition, although only two through holes 1523a are shown in fig. 60 due to the limitation of space, a plurality of through holes 1523a are actually formed in the planar direction of the support substrate 1521W-a.

Further, by wet etching, a trench 1524a is formed in the upper surface of the support substrate 1521W-a so as to surround the periphery of each through hole 1523 a.

It is sufficient that the trench 1524a surrounds each of the through holes 1523a at least inside the region surrounded by the dicing line (not shown). For example, inside a rectangular region surrounded by the dicing lines, a rectangular or circular trench 1524a surrounding each via 1523a may be formed. Alternatively, grooves 1524a parallel to the dicing lines may be formed on both sides of each dicing line such that the dicing line is sandwiched between the grooves 1524 a.

In this case, by using the above-described crystal anisotropic wet etching, the depth of the trench 1524a can be controlled by controlling the width of the trench 1524 a. For example, in the case of an etching condition of etching at about 55 degrees with respect to the crystal orientation of the support substrate 1521W-a, when the width of the trench 1524a is set to about 140 μm, the depth is about 100 μm.

In addition, with the via 1523a produced by crystal anisotropic wet etching, the via 1523a and the trench 1524a can be simultaneously produced, thereby reducing the number of steps. In this case, the inclination angles of the via 1523a and the trench 1524a are equal.

Next, as shown in C of fig. 60, a lens resin portion 1522a is formed in each through hole 1523a by the aforementioned method.

In this manner, a substrate 1511W-a with a lens in a substrate state is produced. In addition, by the same or similar steps, lensed substrates 1511W-b and 1511W-c in a substrate state are produced.

Next, as shown in fig. 61, the substrate-state laminated lens structure 1501W is fabricated by laminating the lens-attached substrates 1511W-a to 1511W-c by direct bonding by the aforementioned method. In the laminated lens structure 1501W, the grooves 1524a to 1524c of the lensed substrates 1511W-a to 1511W-c are substantially aligned in the vertical direction.

Subsequently, as shown in fig. 62, the laminated lens structure 1501W in a substrate state is singulated in chip units by using a blade, a laser, or the like to obtain a plurality of laminated lens structures 1501. In this case, as shown by a broken line a1 in fig. 62, the region between the adjacent grooves 1524a to 1524c is cut along the cutting line. Thus, the chipping due to the dicing in each lens-attached substrate 1511 is stopped by the grooves 1524a to 1524c, thereby preventing the chipping from proceeding to the through holes 1523a to 1523 c. As a result, the occurrence of a situation in which the flexural strength of the substrate with a lens may be lowered and the laminated lens structure may be broken at the time of assembling the camera module or in the like is prevented.

< third countermeasure against chipping >

With reference to FIGS. 63-66, a third countermeasure against fragmentation will be described.

Fig. 63 is a schematic diagram of a cross section of the laminated lens structure 1601. Note that in fig. 63, portions necessary for explanation are mainly shown, and portions unnecessary for explanation are appropriately omitted in the illustration.

In the laminated lens structure 1601, the substrates 1611a to 1611c with lenses are laminated in three layers. The lens resin portion 1622a is formed inside the through hole 1623a in the support substrate 1621a of the lens-equipped substrate 1611 a.

The lens-equipped

substrates

1611b and 1611c also have the same or similar configuration as the lens-equipped substrate 1611a, and the description thereof is omitted. Note that although an example in which the shapes of the lens resin portions 1622a to 1622c are the same is shown in fig. 63 for simplifying the drawing, the shapes of the lens resin portions 1622a to 1622c may be arbitrarily set.

Note that in the case where the substrate 1611a to 1611c with lenses need not be separately distinguished, they are hereinafter simply referred to as substrates having lenses 1611. In the case where the support substrates 1621a to 1621c do not need to be distinguished individually, they are simply referred to as support substrates 1621 hereinafter. In the case where it is not necessary to distinguish the lens resin portions 1622a to 1622c separately, they will be simply referred to as lens resin portions 1622 hereinafter. In the case where the through holes 1623a to 1623c do not need to be distinguished individually, they are hereinafter simply referred to as through holes 1623.

< method for manufacturing laminated lens Structure 1601 >

Referring to fig. 64 to 66, a method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure 1601 will be described.

First, as shown in a of fig. 64, an etching mask 1651 is formed on the upper surface of the support substrate 1621W-a in a substrate state. The etching mask 1651 has an opening portion formed therein for forming a trench 1652 a. Then, a trench 1652a to be used for a cutting line is formed in the support substrate 1621W-a by dry etching or wet etching.

Next, the etching mask 1651 is removed, and then a reinforcing resin sheet 1654 is attached to the lower surface of the support substrate 1621W-a as shown in B of fig. 64. In addition, an etching mask 1653 is formed on the upper surface of the support substrate 1621W-a. The etching mask 1653 is plugged into the groove 1652a, and an opening portion for forming the through hole 1623a is formed therein. Then, the through hole 1623a is formed by dry etching or wet etching. Note that although only two through holes 1623a are shown in fig. 64 due to the limitation of space, a plurality of through holes 1623a are actually formed in the planar direction of the support substrate 1621W-a.

Subsequently, as shown in C of fig. 64, a lens resin portion 1622a is formed in each through hole 1623a by the aforementioned method using the lower die 1655 and the upper die 1656.

In this manner, the substrate 1611W-a with a lens in a substrate state is produced. Further, lens-equipped substrates 1611W-b and 1611W-c in a substrate state are produced by the same or similar steps.

Next, as shown in fig. 65, the lensed substrates 1611W-a and 1611W-b are directly bonded by the aforementioned method to produce a laminated lens structure 1601W in the substrate state. In the laminated lens structure 1601W, the grooves 1624a to 1624c of the lens-equipped substrates 1611W-a to 1611W-c are substantially aligned in the vertical direction.

Subsequently, as shown in fig. 66, the laminated lens structure 1601W in a substrate state is cut along the trenches 1652a to 1652c by using a blade, a laser, or the like, thereby being singulated in chip units to produce a plurality of laminated lens structures 1601. In this case, by the laminated lens structure 1601W cut along the grooves 1652a to 1652c, it is possible to reduce the load at the time of cutting, improve the yield associated with chipping, and reduce the manufacturing cost.

Note that, depending on the laminated structure of the substrate with lenses, singulation may be performed by cleaving or the like without performing dicing.

< modification of the method for manufacturing the laminated lens structure 1601 >

Next, a modification of the manufacturing method of the laminated lens structure 1601 will be described below.

For example, as shown in fig. 67, when forming the groove 1652a for a dicing line, a groove 1671a for an alignment mark may be formed at the same time. In this way, the number of steps can be reduced.

For example, as shown in fig. 68, the through hole 1623a may be processed and the groove 1682a for cutting may be simultaneously processed.

Specifically, as shown in a of fig. 68, an etching mask 1681 is formed on the upper surface of the support substrate 1621W-a in a substrate state. The etching mask 1681 has formed therein opening portions for forming the via 1623a and the trench 1682 a. Then, by dry etching or wet etching, the groove 1682a is formed, and the via 1623a is formed up to the halfway point.

Next, the etching mask 1681 is removed, and thereafter a reinforcing resin sheet 1684 is attached to the lower surface of the support substrate 1621W-a, as shown in B of fig. 68. In addition, an etching mask 1683 is formed on the upper surface of the support substrate 1621W-a. The etching mask 1683 is inserted into the groove 1682a, and an opening portion for forming the through hole 1623a is formed therein. Then, the through holes 1623a are processed until they penetrate the support substrate 1621W-a by dry etching or wet etching.

By simultaneously performing the processing of the through hole 1623a and the processing of the groove 1682a, the processing time can be shortened.

In addition, for example, as shown in fig. 69 and 70, the processing of the through hole 1623a and the processing of the cutting line may be performed simultaneously by crystal anisotropic wet etching. In this case, in consideration of the relationship between the width of the through hole 1623a and the width of the dicing line, the width and the number of the grooves of the dicing line are controlled in such a manner that the grooves of the dicing line do not penetrate the support substrate 1621W-a.

For example, in the case where the width W1 of the via 1623a is larger than the width W2 of the dicing line, as shown in fig. 69, a single trench 1701a is formed at the dicing line.

On the other hand, in the case where the width W1 of the through hole 1623a is equivalent to or smaller than the width W3 of the dicing line W3, as shown in fig. 70, a plurality of grooves are formed at the dicing line. In the case of this example, three trenches, i.e., trenches 1711a to 1713a, are formed. Note that the number of grooves at the dicing line is determined according to the thickness of the support substrate 1621W, the width of the dicing line, a desired groove depth, and the like.

Next, referring to fig. 71 and 72, in a third countermeasure against chipping, the relationship between the width and depth of the groove (slit) formed on the cutting line and the blade width will be described.

Fig. 71 is a cross-sectional view of the laminated lens structure 1721W in a substrate state.

The laminated lens structure 1721W in the substrate state shown in FIG. 71 is formed by directly bonding lenses 1731W-a to 1731W-e in the laminated substrate state.

The lens-equipped substrate 1731W-a is provided with a lens resin section 1734a inside a through hole 1733a formed in the support substrate 1732W-a. The light shielding film 1735a is formed on the side surface of the via-hole 1733 a. A groove 1736a for preventing chipping and the like is formed on the scribe line of the lensed substrate 1731W-a.

The lens-equipped substrate 1731W-b is provided with a lens resin section 1734b inside a through hole 1733b formed in the support substrate 1732W-b. The light shielding film 1735b is formed on the side surface of the via-hole 1733 b. Grooves 1736b for preventing chipping and the like are formed on the scribe lines of the lensed substrate 1731W-b. The same applies to the lensed substrates 1731W-c 1731W-e. A protective tape 1737 is attached to the lower surface of the substrate with lens 1731W-e.

Note that in the case where the lensed substrates 1731W-a to 1731W-e do not need to be individually distinguished, they are simply referred to as lensed substrates 1731W hereinafter. In addition, when the support substrates 1732W-a to 1732W-e do not need to be individually distinguished, they are simply referred to as support substrates 1732W. The same applies to the lens resin portions 1734a to 1734e, the through holes 1733a to 1733e, the light shielding films 1735a to 1735e, and the trenches 1736a to 1736 e.

The blade width BL _ W of the blade BL is determined by the height H of the laminated lens structure 1721W, BL _ W being H/K. Here, K is a coefficient (fixed value) determined by the mechanical rigidity of the blade, and for example, for a predetermined electroforming blade, K is 35.

Therefore, for example, in the case where the height H of the laminated lens structure 1721W is 4.2mm (4,200 μm), as shown in fig. 71, the blade width BL _ W is calculated as BL _ W — H/K — 4,200/35 — 120 μm, and therefore, a blade width of not less than 120 μm is required.

The width SL _ W of the groove (slit) 1736 is a value obtained by adding a margin of about 20 to 60 μm to the determined blade width BL _ W in consideration of a blade position alignment error, a chipping margin, and the like. For example, in the case where a margin of 20 μm is added to the blade width BL _ W of 120 μm, the width SL _ W of the groove 1736 is 140 μm. When the minimum value of the margin to be added is 20 μm, the width SL _ W of the trench 1736 is not less than 140 μm.

A of fig. 72 is a plan view showing the positions of the grooves 1736a forming the substrate 1731W-a with a lens. Note that a of fig. 72 is a plan view of a part of the substrate 1731W-a with lens, and includes 6 lens resin portions 1734 a.

As shown in a of fig. 72, the trench 1736a is formed in a lattice pattern such that a cutting line indicated by a dotted line is located at the center thereof.

Further, as shown in B of FIG. 72, the depth DP of the trench 1736a is set to 1/3 to 1/2 times (WH/3. ltoreq. DP. ltoreq. WH/2) the thickness WH of the substrate 1731W-a with lens (supporting substrate 1732W-a).

< fourth countermeasure against crushing >

Referring to FIGS. 73-76, a fourth countermeasure against fragmentation will be described.

Fig. 73 is a cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure 1740. In fig. 73, parts necessary for explanation are mainly shown, and parts not necessary for explanation are appropriately omitted in the illustration.

The laminated lens structure 1740 shown in fig. 73 is formed by directly bonding laminated lens-equipped substrates 1741-a to 1741-f.

The substrate 1741a with a lens has a lens resin portion 1744a inside a through hole 1743a formed in a support substrate 1742 a. A light shielding film 1745a is formed on the sidewall of the through hole 1743 a.

The substrate 1741b with a lens has a lens resin portion 1744b inside a through hole 1743b formed in the support substrate 1742 b. A light shielding film 1745b is formed on the side surface of the through hole 1743 b. The same applies to the substrates 1741c to 1741f with lenses. Note that the substrate 1741f with lens is provided with a leg portion 1748 for adjusting the distance (back focus) from the light receiving element 12 (see, for example, fig. 1), not shown.

In the case where the lenticular substrates 1741a to 1741f do not need to be distinguished separately, they are simply referred to as lenticular substrates 1741 hereinafter. In addition, in the case where the support substrates 1742a to 1742f do not need to be individually distinguished, they are hereinafter simply referred to as support substrates 1742. The same applies to the lens resin portions 1744a to 1744f, the through holes 1743a to 1743f, and the light-shielding films 1745a to 1745 f.

In the laminated lens structure 1740, the dimension in the planar direction (in the left-right direction in the drawing) of the lensed substrates 1741a to 1741f (support substrates 1742a to 1742f) is different from that of the even layers in the odd layers, so that the side surface of the laminated lens structure 1740 has an uneven structure.

More specifically, the first layer lenticular substrate 1741a, the third layer lenticular substrate 1741c, and the fifth layer lenticular substrate 1741e have a common horizontal width, counted from the light incident side. The second layer lensed substrate 1741b, the fourth layer lensed substrate 1741d, and the sixth layer lensed substrate 1741f have a common horizontal width. The horizontal widths of the first-layer lensed substrate 1741a, the third-layer lensed substrate 1741c, and the fifth-layer lensed substrate 1741e are smaller than the horizontal widths of the second-layer lensed substrate 1741b, the fourth-layer lensed substrate 1741d, and the sixth-layer lensed substrate 1741 f.

Fig. 74 is a cross-sectional view of the laminated lens structure 1740W in a substrate state before singulation of the laminated lens structure 1740 of fig. 73.

In the laminated lens structure 1740W in the substrate state, the odd-numbered layers of the lenticular substrates, i.e., the first-layer lenticular substrate 1741a, the third-layer lenticular substrate 1741c, and the fifth-layer lenticular substrate 1741e have through

grooves

1746a, 1746c, and 1746e at the positions of scribe lines indicated by broken lines, respectively. The through

grooves

1746a, 1746c, and 1746e are grooves that pass through the support substrates 1742W-a, 1742W-c, and 1742W-f, respectively.

A protective tape 1747 is attached to the lower surface of the lensed substrate 1741W-f in the sixth layer, which is the lowermost layer of the substrate-state laminated lens structure 1740W.

The laminated lens structure 1740W in a substrate state formed in this way is singulated along the cutting lines by the blade BL, resulting in the side surface of the laminated lens structure 1740 after singulation having an uneven structure, as shown in fig. 73.

The even-numbered layer of the lensed substrate, that is, the second-layer lensed substrate 1741b, the fourth-layer lensed substrate 1741d, and the sixth-layer lensed substrate 1741f are not formed with through grooves at the cross-sectional portion shown in fig. 74, but are formed with through grooves in a region different from the region of the odd-numbered layer lensed substrate 1741W.

In view of this, a plan view of the lensed substrate 1741W-a as the first layer of the odd numbered layers and a plan view of the lensed substrate 1741W-b as the second layer of the even numbered layers are shown in fig. 75.

Fig. 75 a is a plan view of the lensed substrate 1741W-a of the first layer as an odd-numbered layer, and fig. 75B is a plan view of the lensed substrate 1741W-B of the second layer as an even-numbered layer. Note that in either of a and B of fig. 75, only a partial region of the substrate 1741W with lenses is shown.

In the first-layer lensed substrate 1741W-a, as shown in a of fig. 75, in the cut lines in the lattice-like pattern indicated by the broken lines, through holes 1746a are formed in other portions (the other portions will be referred to as straight line regions in the middle of the cross portions hereinafter) than the peripheries of the cross portions of the rectangle divided by the cut lines. The same applies to the through grooves of the lensed substrates 1741W in the other odd-numbered layers, i.e., the through grooves 1746c of the third-layer lensed substrates 1741W-c and the through grooves 1746e of the fifth-layer lensed substrates 1741W-e.

Note that the cross-sectional view of the laminated lens structure 1740W shown in fig. 74 corresponds to a cross-sectional view along line X-X' of a of fig. 75.

On the other hand, in the through grooves 1746B of the lensed substrate 1741W-B as the second layer of the even number layer, as shown in B of fig. 75, in the dicing lines in the lattice-like pattern indicated by the broken lines, through holes 1746B are formed in the portion around the rectangular intersection portion divided by the dicing lines (the portion will be referred to as an intersection vicinity region including the intersection portion hereinafter). The same applies to the lensed substrate 1741W in the other even layers.

A cross-sectional view along line Y-Y' of B in FIG. 75 is shown in FIG. 76. Through grooves 1746b are formed in the second layer of lensed substrate 1741W-b, and through grooves 1746d are formed in the fourth layer of lensed substrate 1741W-d. In the lens-equipped substrates 1741W-f of the sixth layer, since a recessed structure provided with a leg portion 1748 is adopted, a groove 1746f is formed instead of the through groove; however, in the case where the leg 1748 is not provided, a through groove may be employed.

Fig. 75C is a diagram showing one rectangle divided by the dicing lines in a state where the through groove 1746a of the first layer and the through groove 1746b of the second layer overlap with each other.

The laminated lens structure 1740W shown in fig. 74 can be manufactured in the same manner as the method of manufacturing the laminated lens structure 1601 described with reference to fig. 64 to 66. As described with reference to fig. 68 a, through hole 1743 and through groove 1744 may be formed at the same time. The relationship between the width of the through-slot 1744 and the width of the blade BL is the same as the relationship between the width SL _ W of the groove (slit) 1736 and the blade width BL _ W described with reference to fig. 71.

According to the laminated lens structure 1740W in the substrate state configured as described above, the through grooves 1746 are alternately formed in the scribe lines of the plurality of laminated lens-equipped substrates 1741W; therefore, the number of substrates to be cut is smaller than the number of stacked substrates, and the load of the blade BL at the time of singulation by blade cutting can be reduced. As a result, chipping can be prevented.

Note that, in the above-described example, in the odd-numbered lensed substrate 1741W, the through-hole 1746 is formed in the straight line region in the middle of the crossing portions of the rectangle divided by the dicing lines, while in the even-numbered lensed substrate 1741W, the through-hole 1746 is formed in the vicinity of the crossing portions including the crossing portions of the rectangle divided by the dicing lines; however, the layout of the through grooves 1746 of the odd-numbered layers and the through grooves 1746 of the even-numbered layers may be reversed. Specifically, in the lenticular substrate 1741W of the odd-numbered layers, the through holes 1746 are formed in the region including the crossing portions of the rectangle divided by the dicing lines, while the even numbers are formed in the lenticular substrate 1741W, and the through holes 1746 are formed in the linear region in the middle of the crossing portions of the rectangle divided by the dicing lines.

Note that the application of the first to fourth countermeasures against chipping described above is not limited to application to the laminated lens structure, and the countermeasures are also applicable to the case where a semiconductor device is manufactured by laminating a support substrate and dicing a laminated body. For example, the countermeasure can be applied to a case where a substrate on which a plurality of pixel array sections are arranged and a substrate on which a plurality of control circuits for controlling the pixel array sections and the like are arranged are stacked and the stacked body is cut to manufacture a solid-state imaging device in which the pixel substrate and the control substrate are stacked.

In addition, for example, in the first or second countermeasure against chipping, in the case where a plurality of patterns of predetermined circuits or components are arranged on the support substrate, it is sufficient that the grooves surrounding the periphery of each pattern are formed inside the region surrounded by the dicing lines.

< measures against cracking >

Next, a structure in a case where resistance to cracking is highly emphasized will be described.

According to the first to fourth countermeasures against chipping described above, chipping can be prevented, but is insufficient as a countermeasure against cracking. For example, when a camera module is subjected to a module drop test, cracks may be generated in the silicon substrate, thereby degrading the quality of the module.

In view of this, a laminated lens structure having a countermeasure against cracks and a countermeasure against chipping will be described below.

Fig. 77 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laminated lens structure 1801 to which the present technology is applied. In fig. 77, parts necessary for explanation are mainly shown, and parts not necessary for explanation are appropriately omitted in the illustration.

In the laminated lens structure 1801, the substrates 1811a to 1811c with lenses are laminated in three layers. The lens resin section 1822a is formed inside a through hole 1823a in the support substrate 1821a of the lensed substrate 1811 a. The light shielding film 1825a is formed on a sidewall of the through hole 1823 a. A through groove 1824a penetrating the support substrate 1821a is formed near the outer periphery of the support substrate 1821 a.

The substrate with

lens

1811b and 1811c have the same or similar configuration as the substrate with lens 1811a, and the description thereof is omitted. Note that although an example in which the shapes of the lens resin portions 1822a to 1822c are the same is shown in fig. 77 for simplifying the drawing, the shapes of the lens resin portions 1822a to 1822c may be arbitrarily set.

In the case where it is not necessary to distinguish the lenticular substrates 1811a to 1811c separately, they are simply referred to as the lenticular substrate 1811 hereinafter. In the case where it is not necessary to distinguish the support substrates 1821a to 1821c individually, they will be simply referred to as support substrates 1821 hereinafter. In the case where it is not necessary to separately distinguish the lens resin portions 1822a to 1822c, they will be simply referred to as lens resin portions 1822 hereinafter. In the case where it is not necessary to separately distinguish the through holes 1823a to 1823c, they will be simply referred to as through holes 1823 hereinafter. In the case where it is not necessary to separately distinguish the through slots 1824a to 1824c, they will be simply referred to as through slots 1824 hereinafter.

In this way, in the laminated lens structure 1801, the lens-equipped substrates 1811 each having the lens resin portion 1822 (lens 21) arranged inside the through hole 1823 formed in the support substrate 1821 are laminated in a state of being bonded by direct bonding. Further, each lens-equipped substrate 1811 of the laminated lens structure 1801 is provided with a through groove 1824 penetrating the support substrate 1821 in the vicinity of the outer periphery thereof.

< method for producing laminated lens Structure 1801 >

Referring to fig. 78-81, a method of fabricating the laminated lens structure 1801 will now be described. Note that, hereinafter, steps related to countermeasures against cracks will be mainly described. The omitted steps are substantially the same as those described above.

First, as shown in a of fig. 78, a support substrate 1821W-a in a substrate state is formed with a plurality of through holes 1823 a. Further, a through groove 1824a is formed outside each through hole 1823 a. As a method of processing the through hole 1823a and the through groove 1824a, for example, the aforementioned method such as dry etching and wet etching may be used. The machining of the through hole 1823a and the machining of the through groove 1824a may be performed simultaneously or may be performed in any order.

In addition, although only two through holes 1823a are shown in fig. 78 due to space limitations, a plurality of through holes 1823a are actually formed in the planar direction of the support substrate 1821W-a.

Fig. 79 is a plan view of the support substrate 1821W-a in a substrate state in the step shown in a of fig. 78.

The through slots 1824a are formed on both sides of the cutting line A3 parallel to the cutting line A3 such that the cutting line A3 is sandwiched between the through slots 1824 a. In the singulated state, the through groove 1824a is disposed inside the cut line a 3. No through groove 1824a is formed in a portion where the cutting line a3 intersects. As a result, in the laminated lens structure 1801 after singulation, the through grooves 1824a are independently provided at four portions in a straight line along four sides of the outer periphery of the rectangle, and are not arranged at the corners of the rectangle.

Note that although the planar shape of the through slot 1824a is a linear shape parallel to the cutting line a3, the shape may be, for example, a circular shape along the circular through hole 1823 a.

Returning to fig. 78, as shown in B of fig. 78, a light shielding film 1825a is formed on the side wall of each through hole 1823 a.

Next, as shown in C of fig. 78, a lens resin portion 1822a is formed in each through hole 1823a by the aforementioned method, with the resin for forming the lens sandwiched between the upper and lower molds.

In this way, a substrate 1811W-a with a lens in a substrate state is manufactured. In addition, by the same or similar steps, lensed substrates 1811W-b and 1811W-c in a substrate state are fabricated.

Subsequently, as shown in fig. 80, the lensed substrates 1811W-a to 1811W-c are laminated by the aforementioned direct bonding to produce a laminated lens structure 1801W in a substrate state. In the laminated lens structure 1801W, the through grooves 1824a to 1824c of the substrates 1811W-a to 1811W-c with lenses are substantially aligned in the vertical direction. The through slots 1824a to 1824c may be tapered or reverse tapered in which the opening width at the substrate upper surface and the opening width at the substrate lower surface are different, similar to the through slot 151 shown in B of fig. 22.

Next, as shown in fig. 81, the laminated lens structure 1801W in a substrate state is singulated by using a blade, a laser, or the like in a chip unit to obtain a plurality of laminated lens structures 1801. In this case, as shown in fig. 81, regions between the adjacent through slots 1824a, between the adjacent through slots 1824b, and between the adjacent through slots 1824c are cut along the cutting line a 3. As a result, the laminated lens structure 1801 after singulation shown in fig. 77 is completed.

Note that in the example of the above-described manufacturing method, the through groove 1824 is formed in addition to each of the lens-fitted substrates 1811, and then the lens-fitted substrates 1811W-a to 1811W-c are laminated by direct bonding; however, a process may be employed in which the lensed substrates 1811W-a to 1811W-c are stacked without being formed with the through groove 1824, and then a plurality of the lensed substrates 1811W-a to 1811W-c are formed simultaneously with the through groove 1824.

The through groove 1824 may be formed using not only the above-described dry etching and wet etching, but also laser, machining, or the like.

According to the structure of the laminated lens structure 1801 shown in fig. 77, the straight through groove 1824 extending along the dicing line is provided in the vicinity of the dicing line, thereby ensuring that the through groove 1824 can prevent the progression of cracks even if cracks are generated at the time of impact such as dropping.

Note that the through holes 1824 are not formed in the intersecting portions of the dicing lines, in other words, in the corner portions of the laminated lens structure 1801 after singulation; since the crystal orientation of silicon progresses only in the lateral direction, there is no possibility of cracks corresponding to the four corners in the diagonal direction.

Therefore, according to the structure of the laminated lens structure 1801, cracks can be prevented. Further, since the through grooves 1824a to 1824c have a shape that also serves as the grooves 1424a to 1424c, crushing can be resisted.

In the camera module 1 adopting the structure of the laminated lens structure 1801, generation of cracks or chipping is also suppressed, so that improved quality can be expected.

< first modification >

Fig. 82 is a schematic diagram showing a cross section of a first modification of the laminated lens structure 1801 of fig. 77 that provides a measure against the slit.

With regard to the first modification shown in fig. 82, only the portions different from the structure shown in fig. 77 will be described.

In the structure of the laminated lens structure 1801 shown in fig. 77, the inside of the through groove 1824 is not filled with anything but left as an air gap (cavity).

On the other hand, in the first modification example shown in fig. 82, resin 1841 is placed so as to fill the inside of the through groove 1824. More specifically, resins 1841a to 1841c are placed to fill the through slots 1824a to 1824c, respectively.

The material of the resin 1841 filling the inside of the through slot 1824 is placed without particular limitation. The material of the resin 1841 may be the same as that of the lens resin section 1822, but is preferably a material having a lower elastic modulus than that of the lens resin section 1822.

The through groove 1824 left as an air gap or filled with the resin 1841 has an action or effect of reducing stress on the lensed substrates 1811a to 1811c and suppressing substrate warpage.

The manufacturing method of the first modification of the laminated lens structure 1801 may be a method in which, in the manufacturing method of the laminated lens structure 1801 described with reference to fig. 78 to 81, a step of filling the inside of the through groove 1824 with a predetermined resin 1841 is added to an arbitrary step. In the case where the resin 1841 is formed simultaneously with the step of forming the lens resin portion 1822, the laminated lens structure 1801 of the first modification can be produced without increasing the number of steps.

< second modification >

Fig. 83 is a schematic diagram showing a cross section of a second modification of the laminated lens structure 1801 of fig. 77 that provides a countermeasure against the slit.

With regard to the second modification of fig. 83, only the portions different from the structure shown in fig. 77 will be described.

In the structure of the laminated lens structure 1801 shown in fig. 77, the through grooves 1824a to 1824c of the substrate 1811a to 1811c with lenses have been formed at the same position at the position in the planar direction.

On the other hand, in the second modification example shown in fig. 83, the through grooves 1824 of the lens-equipped substrates 1811 are formed at positions in the planar direction so that they are not aligned but are offset from each other in the vertically adjacent lens-equipped substrates 1811.

Therefore, in the stacked plurality of lens-equipped substrates 1811, the through grooves 1824 are provided at different positions between the vertically adjacent lens-equipped substrates 1811, thereby avoiding the occurrence of gaps (spaces) that occur through the stacked plurality of lens-equipped substrates 1811 (three in the example of fig. 83), and therefore, the sealing property can be improved. As in the first modification, resin 1841 may be placed to fill the inside of the through groove 1824.

The manufacturing method of the second modification of the laminated lens structure 1801 is the same as the manufacturing method of the laminated lens structure 1801 described with reference to fig. 78 to 81, except that the positions of the through grooves 1824a formed in the substrate 1811 with lenses are different. However, it should be noted that since the positions of the through holes 1824a are different between the lensed substrates 1811, it is necessary to form the through grooves 1824 on the basis of each lensed substrate 1811, and a plurality of the lensed substrates 1811W are not formed simultaneously with the through grooves 1824. Fig. 84 shows a laminated lens structure 1801W in a substrate state before singulation.

In the first and second modifications of the laminated lens structure 1801 described above, the through groove 1824 extending in a straight line along the dicing line is provided in the vicinity of the dicing line, whereby cracks and chipping can be prevented.

In addition, the through grooves 1824 reduce stress on the lens-equipped substrates 1811a to 1811c, and therefore substrate warpage can be suppressed.

As the laminated lens structure 11 in the camera module 1 according to the first to eleventh embodiments, the above-described laminated lens structure 1801 having a countermeasure against chipping and a countermeasure against cracking may be adopted.

Note that the application of the above-described countermeasure against cracks is not limited to application to a laminated lens structure, and the countermeasure is also applicable to a case where a semiconductor device is manufactured by laminating a support substrate and dicing a laminated body. For example, the countermeasure can be applied to a case where a substrate on which a plurality of pixel array sections are arranged and a substrate on which a plurality of control circuits for controlling the pixel array sections and the like are arranged are stacked and the stacked body is cut to manufacture a solid-state imaging device in which the pixel substrate and the control substrate are stacked.

<17. application example of electronic apparatus >

The camera module 1 described above can be used in a state in which an electronic device is incorporated when a solid-state imaging device is used in an image taking section (photoelectric conversion section), such as an imaging device such as a digital camera or a video camera, a portable terminal device having an imaging function, and a copying machine using a solid-state imaging device in an image reading section.

The imaging device 2000 of fig. 85 includes a camera module 2002 and a DSP (digital signal processor) circuit 2003 as a camera signal processing circuit. In addition, the imaging apparatus 2000 further includes a frame memory 2004, a display portion 2005, a recording portion 2006, an operation portion 2007, and a power supply portion 2008. The DSP circuit 2003, the frame memory 2004, the display portion 2005, the recording portion 2006, the operation portion 2007, and the power supply portion 2008 are connected to each other via a bus 2009.

The image sensor 2001 in the camera module 2002 acquires incident light (image light) from a subject to be written to form an image on an imaging surface, converts the light amount of the incident light of the image into an electrical signal in units of pixels, and outputs the signal as an image signal. The above-described camera module 1 is adopted as the camera module 2002, and the image sensor 2001 corresponds to the above-described light receiving element 12. The image sensor 2001 receives light that has passed through each lens 21 of the optical unit 13 of the laminated lens structure 11 of the camera module 2002, and outputs an image signal.

The display portion 2005 is configured of a panel-type display device such as a liquid crystal panel or an organic EL (electroluminescence) panel, for example, and displays a video image or a still image captured by the image sensor 2001. The recording section 2006 records a video image or a still image captured by the image sensor 2001 on or in a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory.

The operation section 2007 issues operation commands regarding various functions that the image forming apparatus 2000 has under the operation of the user. The power supply section 2008 appropriately supplies various power supplies serving as operation power supplies of these parts to be supplied with power to the DSP circuit 2003, the frame memory 2004, the display section 2005, the recording section 2006, and the operation section 2007.

As described above, by using the camera module 1 in which the laminated lens structure 11, which is highly accurately positioned and bonded (laminated), is mounted as the camera module 2002, high image quality and miniaturization can be achieved. Therefore, in the imaging device 2000, for example, a camera module used for a video camera, a digital still camera, a mobile device such as a mobile phone, and the like, miniaturization of a semiconductor package and improvement of image quality of a captured image can also be achieved.

<18. application example of in-vivo information acquisition System >

The technique according to the present disclosure (present technique) can be applied to various products. For example, the technique according to the present disclosure may be applied to an endoscopic surgery system of a patient using a capsule type endoscope.

Fig. 86 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an in-vivo information acquisition system using a patient using a capsule-type endoscope to which the technique according to the present disclosure (present technique) can be applied.

The in-vivo information acquisition system 10001 includes a capsule endoscope 10100 and an external control system 10200.

At the time of examination, the patient swallows the capsule type endoscope 10100. The capsule-type endoscope 10100 has an imaging function and a wireless communication function, moves inside organs such as the stomach and the intestine due to peristaltic motion or the like until it is naturally excreted from the patient, sequentially captures images inside the organs (hereinafter, also referred to as in-vivo images) at predetermined intervals, and wirelessly sequentially transmits information on the in-vivo images to an external control system 10200 outside the body.

The external control system 10200 comprehensively controls the operation of the in-vivo information acquisition system 10001. In addition, the external control system 10200 receives information on the in-vivo image transmitted from the capsule endoscope 10100, and generates image data for displaying the in-vivo image on a display device (not shown) based on the received information on the in-vivo image.

In this way, the in-vivo information acquisition system 10001 can acquire an in-vivo image obtained by capturing the in-vivo state of the patient at any time from swallowing the capsule-type endoscope 10100 until it is excreted.

The configuration and functions of the capsule endoscope 10100 and the external control system 10200 will be described in more detail.

The capsule endoscope 10100 includes a capsule case 10101. In the casing 10101, a light source section 10111, an imaging section 10112, an image processing section 10113, a wireless communication section 10114, a power supply section 10115, a power supply section 10116, and a control unit 10117 are housed.

The light source portion 10111 includes a light source, such as a Light Emitting Diode (LED). Light is emitted into the imaging field of view of the imaging section 10112.

The imaging section 10112 includes an imaging element and an optical system including a plurality of lenses disposed in front of the imaging element. Reflected light of light emitted to body tissue as an observation target (hereinafter referred to as observation light) is collected by the optical system and incident on the imaging element. In the imaging section 10112, the imaging element photoelectrically converts observation light incident thereon, and generates an image signal corresponding to the observation light. The image signal generated by the imaging section 10112 is supplied to the image processing section 10113.

The image processing section 10113 includes a processor such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), and performs various types of signal processing on the image signal generated by the imaging section 10112. The image processing section 10113 supplies the image signal on which the signal processing is performed to the wireless communication section 10114 as RAW data.

The wireless communication section 10114 performs predetermined processing such as modulation processing on the image signal subjected to the signal processing by the image processing section 10113, and transmits the image signal to the external control system 10200 via the antenna 10114A. The wireless communication unit 10114 receives a control signal related to drive control of the capsule endoscope 10100 from the external control system 10200 via the antenna 10114A. The wireless communication unit 10114 supplies the control signal received from the external control system 10200 to the control unit 10117.

The power feeding unit 10115 includes an antenna coil for power reception, a power regeneration circuit for regenerating power from a current generated in the antenna coil, a booster circuit, and the like. The power supply unit 10115 generates electric power using the principle of so-called non-contact charging.

Power supply portion 10116 includes a secondary battery, and stores the electric power generated by power supply portion 10115. In fig. 89, in order to avoid complication of the drawing, an arrow or the like indicating a power supply destination of electric power from the power supply section 10116 is omitted; however, the power stored in the power supply section 10116 is supplied to the light source section 10111, the imaging section 10112, the image processing section 10113, the wireless communication section 10114, and the control unit 10117, and may be used to drive these components.

The control unit 10117 includes a processor such as a CPU, and suitably controls the light source section 10111, the imaging section 10112, the image processing section 10113, the wireless communication section 10114, and the power supply section 10115 according to a control signal transmitted from the external control system 10200.

The external control system 10200 includes a processor such as a CPU or a GPU, or a microprocessor, a control board, or the like on which the processor and a storage element such as a memory are mixedly mounted. The external control system 10200 transmits a control signal to the control unit 10117 of the capsule endoscope 10100 through the antenna 10200A, thereby controlling the operation of the capsule endoscope 10100. In the capsule endoscope 10100, for example, conditions for emitting light to the observation target in the light source unit 10111 can be changed in accordance with a control signal from the external control system 10200. In addition, imaging conditions (for example, a frame rate, an exposure value, and the like in the imaging section 10112) can be changed according to a control signal from the external control system 10200. In addition, details of processing in the image processing section 10113 and conditions (e.g., transmission intervals, the number of transmission images, etc.) under which the wireless communication section 10114 transmits image signals can be changed according to a control signal from the external control system 10200.

Further, the external control system 10200 performs various types of image processing on the image signal transmitted from the capsule endoscope 10100 and generates image data for displaying the captured in-vivo image on a display device. As the image processing, various types of known signal processing, for example, development processing (demosaicing processing), image quality enhancement processing (band enhancement processing, super-resolution processing, Noise Reduction (NR) processing, image stabilization processing, and/or the like), and/or enlargement processing (electronic zoom processing), and the like, may be performed. The external control system 10200 controls the driving of the display device to display the captured in-vivo image based on the generated image data. Alternatively, the external control system 10200 may cause a recording device (not shown) to record the generated image data, or cause a printing device (not shown) to print out the generated image data.

The above has explained an example of an in-vivo information acquisition system to which the technique according to the present disclosure can be applied. In the above-described configuration, the technique according to the present disclosure can be applied to the imaging section 10112. Specifically, the camera module 1 according to the first to eleventh embodiments can be applied as the imaging section 10112. With the application to the imaging section 10112 according to the presently disclosed technology, it is possible to obtain a clearer surgical site image while reducing the size of the capsule type endoscope 10100, thereby improving the accuracy of examination.

<19. application example of endoscopic surgery System >

The technique according to the present disclosure (present technique) can be applied to various products. For example, techniques according to the present disclosure may be applicable to endoscopic surgical systems.

Fig. 87 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an endoscopic surgery system to which the technique according to the present disclosure (present technique) can be applied.

Fig. 87 shows a state in which an operator (doctor) 11131 is performing an operation on a patient 11132 on a bed 11133 using an endoscopic surgery system 11000. As shown in fig. 87, the endoscopic surgery system 11000 includes an endoscope 11100, other surgical instruments 11110 such as a veress tube 11111 and an energy treatment instrument 11112, a support arm device 11120 that supports the endoscope 11100, and a cart 11200 on which various devices for endoscopic surgery are mounted.

The endoscope 11100 includes a lens barrel 11101 in which a region of a predetermined length from the distal end is inserted into a body cavity of a patient 11132, and a camera 11102 connected to the proximal end of the lens barrel 11101. In the illustrated example, the endoscope 11100 formed as a so-called hard endoscope including the hard lens barrel 11101 is shown, but the endoscope 11100 may be formed as a so-called soft endoscope including a soft lens barrel.

The lens barrel 11101 is provided at its distal end with an opening portion into which an objective lens is fitted. The light source device 11203 is connected to the endoscope 11100, and guides light generated by the light source device 11203 to the distal end of the lens barrel through a light guide extending to the inside of the lens barrel 11101, and emits the light toward an observation object within the body cavity of the patient 11132 via the objective lens. Note that the endoscope 11100 may be a direct view mirror, an oblique view mirror, or a side view mirror.

An optical system and an imaging element are provided inside the camera 11102, and reflected light (observation light) from an observation target is condensed on the imaging element by the optical system. The observation light is photoelectrically converted by the imaging element, and an electric signal corresponding to the observation light, that is, an image signal corresponding to an observation image is generated. The image signal is transmitted as RAW data to a Camera Control Unit (CCU) 11201.

The CCU11201 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), and the like, and comprehensively controls the operations of the endoscope 11100 and the display device 11202. Further, the CCU11201 receives an image signal from the camera 11102, and performs various types of image processing such as development processing (demosaicing processing) on the image signal to display an image based on the image signal.

The display device 11202 displays an image based on an image signal on which image processing has been performed by the CCU11201, by the control of the CCU 11201.

For example, the light source device 11203 includes a light source such as a Light Emitting Diode (LED) and supplies irradiation light for photographing a surgical site or the like to the endoscope 11100.

The input device 11204 is an input interface for the endoscopic surgical system 11000. A user may input various types of information and instructions to the endoscopic surgical system 11000 via the input device 11204. For example, the user inputs an instruction or the like for changing the imaging conditions (the type of irradiation light, magnification, focal length, and the like) of the endoscope 11100.

The treatment instrument control device 11205 controls driving of the energy treatment instrument 11112 for cauterization, incision, sealing of blood vessels, and the like of tissues. The pneumoperitoneum device 11206 injects gas into a body cavity via the pneumoperitoneum tube 11111 to inflate the body cavity of the patient 11132, so as to secure the field of view of the endoscope 11100 and secure a working space of an operator. The recorder 11207 is a device capable of recording various types of information relating to the procedure. The printer 11208 is a device capable of printing various types of information relating to the operation in various forms such as text, images, graphics, and the like.

Note that the light source device 11203 that supplies illumination light for imaging a surgical site to the endoscope 11100 may include a white light source such as an LED, a laser light source, or a combination thereof. In the case where the white light source includes a combination of RGB laser light sources, the output intensity and the output timing of each color (wavelength) can be controlled with high accuracy, so that adjustment of the white balance of the captured image can be performed in the light source device 11203. Further, in this case, by emitting the laser light from the respective RGB laser light sources onto the observation target time-divisionally and controlling the driving of the imaging element of the camera 11102 in synchronization with the emission timing, it is also possible to capture images corresponding to RGB time-divisionally. According to this method, a color image can be obtained also in the case where no color filter is provided in the imaging element.

Further, the driving of the light source device 11203 may be controlled so that the intensity of light to be output is changed at predetermined time intervals. By controlling the driving of the imaging element of the camera 11102 in synchronization with the timing of the change in light intensity to acquire images divisionally by time and synthesize the images, an image of a high dynamic range without both a so-called underexposed shadow and a so-called overexposed highlight can be generated.

Further, the light source device 11203 may supply light of a predetermined wavelength band corresponding to the special light observation. In special light observation, so-called narrow band imaging, in which a predetermined tissue such as a blood vessel of a mucosal surface is photographed with high contrast, is performed by emitting light having a narrow band region compared to irradiation light (i.e., white light) at the time of ordinary observation, for example, by using wavelength dependence of light absorption in a body tissue. Alternatively, in the special light observation, fluorescence imaging in which an image is obtained by fluorescence generated by emitting excitation light may be performed. In fluorescence imaging, for example, excitation light may be irradiated to body tissue to observe fluorescence from the body tissue (autofluorescence imaging), or an agent such as indocyanine green may be locally injected into the body tissue and excitation light corresponding to the fluorescence wavelength of the agent may be emitted to obtain a fluorescence image. Light source device 11203 may supply narrow-band light and/or excitation light corresponding to such special light observations.

Fig. 88 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the camera 11102 and the CCU11201 shown in fig. 87.

The camera 11102 includes a lens unit 11401, an imaging portion 11402, a driving portion 11403, a communication portion 11404, and a camera control unit 11405. The CCU11201 includes a communication section 11411, an image processing section 11412, and a control unit 11413. The camera 11102 and the CCU11201 are connected by a transmission cable 11400 so that communication can be performed therebetween.

The lens unit 11401 is an optical system provided at a connection portion with the lens barrel 11101. Observation light received from the distal end of the lens barrel 11101 is guided to the camera 11102 and incident on the lens unit 11401. The lens unit 11401 includes a combination of a plurality of lenses including a zoom lens and a focus lens.

The imaging portion 11402 is composed of an imaging element. The imaging element constituting the imaging section 11402 may be one element (so-called single plate type) or may be a plurality of elements (so-called multi-plate type). When the imaging section 11402 is a multi-panel type, for example, image signals corresponding to RGB are generated by respective imaging elements, and a color image can be obtained by synthesizing the image signals. Alternatively, the imaging section 11402 may include a pair of RGB for acquiring image signals for the right and left eyes corresponding to three-dimensional (3D) display. By performing the 3D display, the operator 11131 can grasp the depth of the body tissue in the surgical site more accurately. Note that when the imaging section 11402 is a multi-plate type, a plurality of lens units 11401 corresponding to respective imaging elements may be provided.

Further, the imaging portion 11402 is not necessarily provided in the camera 11102. For example, the imaging section 11402 may be disposed right behind the objective lens inside the lens barrel 11101.

The driving part 11403 includes an actuator, and moves the zoom lens and the focus lens of the lens unit 11401 by a predetermined distance along the optical axis by the control of the camera control unit 11405. As a result, the magnification and focus of the image captured by the imaging portion 11402 can be appropriately adjusted.

The communication section 11404 includes a communication device for transmitting/receiving various types of information to/from the CCU 11201. The communication section 11404 transmits the image signal acquired from the imaging section 11402 to the CCU11201 as RAW data via the transmission cable 11400.

Further, the communication section 11404 receives a control signal for controlling driving of the camera 11102 from the CCU11201, and supplies the control signal to the camera control unit 11405. The control signal includes information relating to imaging conditions, for example, information specifying a frame rate of a captured image, information specifying an exposure value at the time of imaging, and/or information specifying a magnification and a focus of the captured image, and the like.

Note that imaging conditions such as a frame rate, an exposure value, a magnification, and a focus may be appropriately specified by a user, or may be automatically set by the control unit 11413 of the CCU11201 based on the acquired image signal. In the latter case, a so-called Auto Exposure (AE) function, an Auto Focus (AF) function, and an Auto White Balance (AWB) function are incorporated in the endoscope 11100.

The camera control unit 11405 controls driving of the camera 11102 based on a control signal from the CCU11201 received via the communication section 11404.

The communication section 11411 includes a communication device for transmitting/receiving various types of information to/from the camera 11102. The communication section 11411 receives the image signal transmitted from the camera 11102 via the transmission cable 11400.

Further, the communication portion 11411 transmits a control signal for controlling driving of the camera 11102 to the camera 11102. The image signal and the control signal may be transmitted by electrical communication, optical communication, or the like.

The image processing section 11412 performs various types of image processing on the image signal as the RAW data transmitted from the camera 11102.

The control unit 11413 performs various types of control regarding imaging of a surgical site or the like by the endoscope 11100 and display of a captured image obtained by imaging of the surgical site or the like. For example, the control unit 11413 generates a control signal for controlling driving of the camera 11102.

Further, the control unit 11413 causes the display device 11202 to display a captured image of the surgical site or the like based on the image signal on which the image processing has been performed by the image processing unit 11412. In this case, the control unit 11413 may recognize various objects within the photographed image by using various image recognition techniques. For example, the control unit 11413 detects the edge shape and/or color and the like of an object included in the captured image, thereby being able to recognize a surgical instrument such as forceps, a specific living body part, bleeding, fog when the energy treatment instrument 11112 is used, and the like. When causing the display device 11202 to display the captured image, the control unit 11413 may cause the display device 11202 to overlap and display various types of operation support information about the image of the operation site by using the recognition result. The operation support information is displayed in superposition and presented to the operator 11131, whereby the burden on the operator 11131 can be reduced and the operator 11131 can perform the operation reliably.

The transmission cable 11400 connecting the camera 11102 and the CCU11201 together is an electrical signal cable supporting communication of electrical signals, an optical fiber supporting optical communication, or a composite cable thereof.

Note that in the illustrated example, wired communication is performed by using the transmission cable 11400, but wireless communication may be performed between the camera 11102 and the CCU 11201.

Examples of endoscopic surgical systems to which techniques according to the present disclosure may be applied have been described above. In the above-described configuration, the technique according to the present disclosure can be applied to the lens unit 11401 and the imaging portion 11402 of the camera 11102. Specifically, the camera module 1 according to the first to eleventh embodiments can be applied as the lens unit 11401 and the imaging section 11402. With the application of the technique according to the present disclosure to the lens unit 11401 and the imaging portion 11402, a clearer image of the surgical site can be obtained while reducing the size of the camera 11102.

It is noted that although an endoscopic surgical system is illustrated herein, techniques in accordance with the present disclosure may be applied to other systems, such as, for example, a microsurgical system or the like.

<20 application example of moving object >

The technique according to the present disclosure (present technique) can be applied to various products. For example, the technology according to the present disclosure is implemented as a device to be mounted on any type of moving body such as an automobile, an electric automobile, a hybrid electric automobile, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a personal mobile device, an airplane, a drone, a ship, and a robot.

Fig. 89 is a block diagram of a schematic configuration example of a vehicle control system as an example of a mobile body control system to which the technique according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can be applied.

The vehicle control system 12000 includes a plurality of electronic control units connected together via a communication network 12001. In the example shown in fig. 89, the vehicle control system 12000 includes a drive system control unit 12010, a main body system control unit 12020, an exterior information detection unit 12030, an interior information detection unit 12040, and an integrated control unit 12050. Further, as a functional configuration of the integrated control unit 12050, a microcomputer 12051, an audio image output unit 12052, and an in-vehicle network interface (I/F)12053 are shown.

The drive system control unit 12010 controls the operations of devices related to the drive system of the vehicle according to various programs. For example, the drive system control unit 12010 functions as a control device such as a driving force generation device for generating a driving force of the vehicle such as an internal combustion engine or a drive motor, a driving force transmission mechanism for transmitting the driving force to wheels, a steering mechanism for adjusting a steering angle of the vehicle, a brake device for generating a braking force of the vehicle, and the like.

The main body system control unit 12020 controls the operations of various devices mounted to the vehicle body according to various programs. For example, the main body system control unit 12020 functions as a control device of a keyless entry system, a smart key system, a power window device, or various lights such as a head light, a tail light, a stop light, a turn signal light, or a fog light. In this case, a radio wave transmitted from the portable device or a signal of various switches for replacing the key may be input to the main body system control unit 12020. The main body system control unit 12020 receives input of radio waves or signals and controls the door lock device, power window device, lamp, and the like of the vehicle.

Vehicle exterior information detection section 12030 detects information on the exterior of the vehicle to which vehicle control system 12000 is attached. For example, the vehicle exterior information detection means 12030 is connected to the imaging unit 12031. The vehicle exterior information detection unit 12030 causes the imaging section 12031 to capture an image of the outside of the vehicle and receives the captured image. The vehicle exterior information detection unit 12030 can perform object detection processing such as a person, a car, an obstacle, a sign, characters on a road, or distance detection processing based on the received image.

The imaging section 12031 is an optical sensor that receives light and outputs an electric signal corresponding to the amount of received light. The imaging section 12031 may output an electrical signal as an image or an electrical signal as distance measurement information. Further, the light received by the imaging section 12031 may be visible light or invisible light such as infrared light.

The in-vehicle information detection unit 12040 detects information in the vehicle. For example, the in-vehicle information detection unit 12040 is connected to a driver state detection unit 12041 for detecting the state of the driver. For example, the driver state detection unit 12041 includes a camera that takes an image of the driver, and based on the detection information input from the driver state detection unit 12041, the in-vehicle information detection unit 12040 may calculate the fatigue or concentration of the driver, or may determine whether the driver falls asleep in a sitting posture.

For example, the microcomputer 12051 may calculate control target values of the driving force generation device, the steering mechanism, or the brake device based on the information of the interior and exterior of the vehicle obtained by the vehicle exterior information detection unit 12030 or the vehicle interior information detection unit 12040, and may output a control instruction to the driving system control unit 12010. For example, the microcomputer 12051 may perform coordinated control to realize functions of an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) including collision avoidance or collision mitigation of vehicles, follow-up running based on a distance between vehicles, vehicle speed maintenance running, vehicle collision warning, lane departure warning of vehicles, and the like.

In addition, the microcomputer 12051 can perform coordinated control by controlling the driving force generation device, the steering mechanism, the brake device, and the like based on the information on the vehicle surroundings obtained by the outside-vehicle information detection unit 12030 or the inside-vehicle information detection unit 12040 to realize automatic driving and the like in which the vehicle autonomously travels without depending on the operation of the driver.

In addition, the microcomputer 12051 can output a control command to the subject system control unit 12020 based on the information outside the vehicle obtained by the vehicle exterior information detection unit 12030. For example, the microcomputer 12051 controls headlights according to the position of the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle detected by the vehicle exterior information detecting unit 12030 to perform cooperative control to achieve glare prevention such as switching a high beam to a low beam.

The audio image output unit 12052 delivers at least one of a sound and an image output signal to an output device capable of visually or aurally notifying a vehicle occupant or information outside the vehicle. In the example of fig. 89, as output devices, an audio speaker 12061, a display unit 12062, and a dashboard 12063 are shown. For example, the display unit 12062 may include at least one of an in-vehicle display and a flat-view display.

Fig. 90 is a diagram of an example of the layout position of the imaging section 12031.

In fig. 90, as the image forming portion 12031,

image forming portions

12101, 12102, 12103, 12104, and 12105 are included.

Each of the

imaging portions

12101, 12102, 12103, 12104, and 12105 is provided at a position such as a head of the vehicle 12100, a side view mirror, a rear bumper, a rear door, an upper side of a windshield in the vehicle, and the like. The imaging section 12101 provided in the vehicle head and the imaging section 12105 provided on the upper side of the windshield in the vehicle mainly obtain an image of the front of the vehicle 12100. The

imaging portions

12102 and 12103 provided in the side view mirrors mainly obtain images of the sides of the vehicle 12100. An imaging portion 12104 provided in a rear bumper or a rear door mainly obtains an image of the rear of the vehicle 12100. The images of the front acquired by the

imaging sections

12101 and 12105 are mainly used to detect a vehicle in front, a pedestrian, an obstacle, a traffic signal, a traffic sign, a lane, and the like.

Note that fig. 90 shows an example of imaging ranges of the imaging sections 12101 to 12104. The imaging range 12111 represents an imaging range of an imaging portion 12101 provided in the vehicle head, the imaging ranges 12112 and 12113 represent imaging ranges of

imaging portions

12102 and 12103 provided in the side view mirror, respectively, and the imaging range 12114 represents an imaging range of an imaging portion 12104 provided in the rear bumper or the rear door. For example, image data captured by the imaging sections 12101 to 12104 are superimposed on each other, thereby obtaining a bird's-eye view image of the vehicle 12100 as seen from above.

At least one of the imaging sections 12101 to 12104 may have a function of acquiring distance information. For example, at least one of the imaging sections 12101 to 12104 may be a stereo camera including a plurality of imaging elements, or may be an imaging element having pixels for phase difference detection.

For example, based on the distance information obtained from the imaging units 12101 to 12104, the microcomputer 12051 obtains the distance to each three-dimensional object in the imaging ranges 12111 to 12114 and the temporal change in the distance (relative speed to the vehicle 12100), and can extract, as the leading vehicle, a three-dimensional object that is located on the traveling route of the vehicle 12100, particularly the closest three-dimensional object, and that travels at a predetermined speed (for example, 0km/h or more) in substantially the same direction as the vehicle 12100. In addition, the microcomputer 12051 may set a distance between vehicles secured in advance in front of the preceding vehicle, and may perform automatic braking control (including follow-up running stop control), automatic acceleration control (including follow-up running start control), and the like. In this way, it is possible to perform cooperative control of automatic driving or the like in which the vehicle autonomously travels without depending on the operation of the driver.

For example, the microcomputer 12051 may extract three-dimensional object data on a three-dimensional object by classifying the three-dimensional object into other three-dimensional objects such as two-wheeled vehicles, general vehicles, large-sized vehicles, pedestrians, and utility poles based on distance information obtained from the imaging sections 12101 to 12104, and automatically avoid an obstacle using the extracted data. For example, the microcomputer 12051 recognizes obstacles around the vehicle 12100 as obstacles that can be visually recognized by the driver of the vehicle 12100 and obstacles that are difficult to visually recognize. Then, the microcomputer 12051 determines a collision risk indicating the degree of risk of collision with each obstacle, and when the collision risk is equal to or higher than the set value and there is a possibility of collision, the microcomputer 12051 can perform driving assistance for collision avoidance by outputting a warning to the driver via the audio speaker 12061 and the display unit 12062 or performing forced deceleration or avoidance steering via the drive system control unit 12010.

At least one of the imaging sections 12101 to 12104 may be an infrared camera for detecting infrared rays. For example, the microcomputer 12051 can recognize a pedestrian by determining whether the pedestrian is present in the captured images of the imaging portions 12101 to 12104. For example, the identification of a pedestrian is performed by a process of extracting feature points in a captured image of the imaging sections 12101 to 12104 as infrared cameras and a process of performing pattern matching processing on a series of feature points indicating the outline of an object to determine whether or not the object is a pedestrian. When the microcomputer 12051 judges that a pedestrian exists in the captured images of the imaging sections 12101 to 12104 and identifies a pedestrian, the audio image output unit 12052 controls the display unit 12062 to display the superimposed quadrangular contour line to emphasize the identified pedestrian. Further, the audio image output unit 12052 may control the display unit 12062 to display an icon or the like indicating a pedestrian at a desired position.

The example of the vehicle control system to which the technique according to the present disclosure can be applied has been described above. In the above-described configuration, the technique according to the present disclosure can be applied to the imaging section 12031. The camera module 1 according to the first to eleventh embodiments can be applied as the imaging section 12031. With the technique according to the present disclosure as the imaging section 12031, it is possible to obtain a captured image that is easier to view or obtain distance information while achieving downsizing. In addition, by using the captured image and the distance information thus obtained, it is possible to reduce the fatigue of the driver and improve the safety of the driver and the vehicle.

Further, the application of the present technology is not limited to a camera module adapted to detect and capture the distribution of the incident light amount of visible light as an image. The present technology is also applicable to a camera module that captures the distribution of the incident amount of infrared rays, X-rays, particles, and the like as an image, and in a broad sense, to a general camera module such as a fingerprint sensor that detects and captures the distribution of other physical quantities such as pressure and capacitance as an image, that is, a camera module (physical quantity distribution detection apparatus).

The embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications may be made without departing from the gist of the present disclosure.

For example, a form may be adopted in which all or some of the above-described embodiments are combined.

Note that the effects described in this specification are merely illustrative and not restrictive, and may have effects other than the effects described in this specification.

Note that the present disclosure may also adopt the following configurations.

(1)

A laminated lens structure includes lens-equipped substrates each having a lens arranged inside a through hole formed in the substrate and laminated to each other by direct bonding, wherein each substrate is provided with a through groove penetrating the substrate in the vicinity of the outer periphery thereof.

(2)

According to the laminated lens structure described in the above (1),

wherein the through grooves are linearly arranged along four sides of the outer periphery of the rectangle.

(3)

The laminated lens structure according to the above (1) or (2),

wherein the through grooves are arranged at four portions corresponding to four sides of the periphery of the rectangle, and

the through grooves at the four portions are independent from each other.

(4)

The laminated lens structure according to any one of the above (1) to (3),

wherein the through grooves are not arranged at corners of four sides of the outer periphery of the rectangle.

(5)

The laminated lens structure according to any one of the above (1) to (4),

wherein the interior of the through slot is an air gap.

(6)

The laminated lens structure according to any one of the above (1) to (4),

wherein a resin is placed to fill the inside of the through groove.

(7)

The laminated lens structure according to any one of the above (1) to (6),

wherein the through grooves are arranged at the same position in the substrates adjacent to each other up and down.

(8)

The laminated lens structure according to any one of the above (1) to (6),

wherein the through grooves are arranged at different positions in the substrates adjacent to each other above and below.

(9)

A method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure, the method comprising:

forming a plurality of substrates each having a through hole in which a lens is arranged and having a through groove formed on or along a dicing line;

stacking the plurality of substrates by direct bonding; and

a plurality of laminated substrates are singulated along dicing lines.

(10)

The method for manufacturing a laminated lens structure according to item (9) above,

wherein the through groove is formed inside the cutting line and is not formed at an intersection portion of the cutting line.

(11)

wherein the through grooves are formed on the dicing lines such that regions of the dicing lines in the odd-numbered substrates are different from regions of the dicing lines in the even-numbered substrates when the plurality of substrates are stacked.

(12)

The method for manufacturing a laminated lens structure according to item (11) above,

wherein the through-grooves in one of the odd-numbered substrate and the even-numbered substrate are formed in a crossing vicinity region of a rectangle divided by the dicing lines including crossing portions, and the through-grooves in the other of the odd-numbered substrate and the even-numbered substrate are formed in a straight line region in the middle of the crossing portions of the rectangle divided by the dicing lines.

(13)

wherein the machining of the through hole and the machining of the through groove are performed simultaneously.

(14)

wherein a resin is placed to fill the inside of the through groove simultaneously with the resin forming the lens.

(15)

A method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure, the method comprising:

bonding a plurality of lensed substrates to each other by direct bonding, each lensed substrate having a lens disposed inside a through-hole formed in the substrate;

forming through grooves along cutting lines in the bonded plurality of substrates with lenses; and

the plurality of lens-equipped substrates having the through-grooves formed therein are singulated along the dicing lines.

(16)

An electronic device, comprising:

a laminated lens structure including lens-fitted substrates each having a lens disposed inside a through hole formed in the substrate and laminated to each other by direct bonding, wherein each substrate is provided with a through groove penetrating the substrate in the vicinity of the outer periphery thereof.

(17)

A laminated lens substrate, comprising:

a first lens substrate including a first lens in the first through hole;

a second lens substrate including a second lens in the second through hole, the second lens substrate being laminated on the first lens substrate; and

and a groove portion penetrating the first lens substrate and the second lens substrate in a cross-sectional view, wherein the first through-hole is disposed between at least two groove portions in a plan view.

(18)

The laminated lens substrate according to the above (17), wherein the first lens substrate is directly bonded to the second lens substrate.

(19)

The laminated lens substrate according to the above (18), wherein the first layer is formed on the first lens substrate, the second layer is formed on the second lens substrate, and each of the first layer and the second layer contains one or more of an oxide, a nitride material, or carbon.

(20)

The laminated lens substrate according to the above (19), wherein the first lens substrate is directly bonded to the second lens substrate via the first layer and the second layer.

(21)

The laminated lens substrate according to the above (20), wherein the first layer and the second layer comprise a plasma junction.

(22)

The laminated lens substrate according to any one of the above (17) to (21), wherein the antireflection film is located in the first through hole and the second through hole.

(23)

The laminated lens substrate according to any one of the above (17) to (22), wherein the groove portion is linearly arranged along four sides of a rectangle.

(24)

The laminated lens substrate according to any one of the above (17) to (22), wherein the groove portions are arranged at four portions corresponding to four sides of a rectangle, and the groove portions at the four portions are independent of each other.

(25)

The laminated lens substrate according to any one of the above (17) to (22), wherein the groove portion is not arranged at a corner of four sides of the rectangle.

(26)

The laminated lens substrate according to any one of the above (17) to (25), wherein an internal space in the groove portion is an air gap.

(27)

The laminated lens substrate according to any one of the above (17) to (25), wherein an internal space of the groove portion contains a resin.

(28)

The laminated lens substrate according to any one of the above (17) to (27), wherein the groove portions are arranged at the same position in the substrates adjacent to each other in a plan view.

(29)

The laminated lens substrate according to any one of the above (17) to (27), wherein the groove portions are arranged at different positions in the substrates adjacent to each other in a plan view.

(30)

A method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure, the method comprising:

disposing a first lens in the first through hole of the first lens substrate;

disposing a second lens in a second through hole of a second lens substrate;

laminating a first lens substrate on a second lens substrate;

a groove portion formed through the first lens substrate and the second lens substrate in a cross-sectional view, wherein the first through-hole is arranged between at least two groove portions in a plan view; and

the laminated substrates are cut along cutting lines.

(31)

The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure of the above (30), wherein the groove portion is formed between adjacent cutting lines.

(32)

The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure of the above (30), wherein the groove portions are formed along the cutting lines in regions where the cutting lines in the adjacent lens substrates are different from each other.

(33)

The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure of (32) above, wherein the groove portion in one of the odd-numbered lens substrate and the even-numbered lens substrate is formed at intersection regions of the dicing lines, and the groove portion in the other of the odd-numbered lens substrate and the even-numbered lens is formed at a region between the intersection regions of the dicing lines.

(34)

The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure according to any one of the above (30) to (33), wherein the through hole and the groove are formed simultaneously.

(35)

The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure according to any one of the above (30) to (34), further comprising filling an inside of the groove portion with a resin simultaneously when forming the first lens.

(36)

A method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure, the method comprising:

bonding a plurality of lens substrates to each other by direct bonding, each of the plurality of lens substrates including a lens arranged inside a through-hole formed in each lens substrate;

forming a groove portion along the cutting line; and

cutting the plurality of lens substrates along cutting lines.

(37)

An electronic device, comprising:

a laminated lens substrate comprising:

a first lens substrate including a first lens in the first through hole,

a second lens substrate including a second lens in the second through hole, the second lens substrate being laminated on the first lens substrate, and

a groove portion penetrating the first lens substrate and the second lens substrate in a cross-sectional view, wherein the first through-hole is arranged between at least two groove portions in a plan view; and

and an image sensor corresponding to the first through hole.

[ list of reference numerals ]

1 Camera Module

11 laminated lens structure

12 light receiving element

13 optical unit

21 lens

41(41a to 41e) substrate with lens

43 sensor substrate

51 diaphragm plate

52 opening part

81 support substrate

82 lens resin part

83 through hole

121 light shielding film

122 upper surface layer

123 lower surface layer

1740 stacked lens structure

1741 a-1741 f substrates with lenses

1742 a-1742 f supporting substrate

1743 a-1743 f

1744 a-1744 f lens resin parts

1746 a-1746 e

1746f groove

1801 laminated lens structure

1811a to 1811c substrate with lens

1821 a-1821 c support substrate

1822 a-1822 c lens resin part

1823 a-1823 c through hole

1824 a-1824 c through groove

1841 resin

2000 imaging device

2001 image sensor

2002 camera module

Claims

1. A laminated lens substrate, comprising:

a first lens substrate including a first lens in the first through hole;

a second lens substrate including a second lens in a second through hole, the second lens substrate being laminated on the first lens substrate; and

a groove portion penetrating the first lens substrate and the second lens substrate in a cross-sectional view, wherein the first through-hole is arranged between at least two groove portions in a plan view,

wherein the groove portions are arranged at different positions in the lens substrates adjacent to each other in a plan view.

2. The laminated lens substrate of claim 1, wherein the first lens substrate is directly bonded to the second lens substrate.

3. The laminated lens substrate of claim 2, wherein a first layer is formed on the first lens substrate and a second layer is formed on the second lens substrate, and wherein each of the first and second layers comprises one or more of an oxide, a nitride material, or carbon.

4. The laminated lens substrate of claim 3, wherein the first lens substrate is directly bonded to the second lens substrate via the first layer and the second layer.

5. The laminated lens substrate of claim 4, wherein the first layer and the second layer comprise plasma junctions.

6. The laminated lens substrate according to claim 1, wherein an antireflection film is located in the first through-hole and the second through-hole.

7. The laminated lens substrate according to claim 1, wherein the groove portions are linearly arranged along four sides of a rectangle.

8. The laminated lens substrate according to claim 1, wherein the groove portions are arranged at four portions corresponding to four sides of a rectangle, and the groove portions at the four portions are independent of each other.

9. The laminated lens substrate according to claim 1, wherein the groove portion is not arranged at a corner of four sides of a rectangle.

10. The laminated lens substrate of claim 1, wherein the internal void within the groove portion is an air gap.

11. The laminated lens substrate according to claim 1, wherein an inner space of the groove portion contains a resin.

12. A method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure, the method comprising:

disposing a first lens in the first through hole of the first lens substrate;

disposing a second lens in a second through hole of a second lens substrate;

laminating the first lens substrate on the second lens substrate;

a groove portion formed through the first lens substrate and the second lens substrate in a cross-sectional view, wherein the first through-hole is arranged between at least two groove portions in a plan view, and wherein the groove portions are arranged at different positions in lens substrates adjacent to each other in the plan view; and

the laminated substrates are cut along cutting lines.

13. The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure according to claim 12, wherein the groove portion is formed between adjacent cutting lines.

14. The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure of claim 12,

wherein the groove portions are formed along the cutting lines in regions where the cutting lines in the adjacent lens substrates are different from each other.

15. The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure of claim 14,

wherein the groove portion in one of the odd-numbered lens substrate and the even-numbered lens substrate is formed at intersection regions of the dicing lines, and the groove portion in the other of the odd-numbered lens substrate and the even-numbered lens substrate is formed at a region between the intersection regions of the dicing lines.

16. The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure of claim 12,

wherein the via and the groove are formed simultaneously.

17. The method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure according to claim 12, further comprising simultaneously filling an inside of the groove portion with resin when the first lens is formed.

18. A method of manufacturing a laminated lens structure, the method comprising:

forming groove portions along cutting lines, wherein the groove portions are arranged at different positions in the lens substrates adjacent to each other in a plan view; and

cutting the plurality of lens substrates along cutting lines.

19. An electronic device, comprising:

a laminated lens substrate comprising:

a first lens substrate including a first lens in the first through hole,

a second lens substrate including a second lens in a second through hole, the second lens substrate being laminated on the first lens substrate, and

a groove portion penetrating the first lens substrate and the second lens substrate in a cross-sectional view, wherein the first through-hole is arranged between at least two groove portions in a plan view, and wherein the groove portions are arranged at different positions in lens substrates adjacent to each other in the plan view; and

an image sensor corresponding to the first through hole.