Optical Efficiency Enhancement of Nanojet-Based Dielectric Double-Material Color Splitters for Image Sensor Applications

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Nov 12;11(11):3036. doi: 10.3390/nano11113036.

Abstract

We propose a new type of color splitter, which guides a selected bandwidth of incident light towards the proper photosensitive area of the image sensor by exploiting the nanojet (NJ) beam phenomenon. Such splitting can be performed as an alternative to filtering out part of the received light on each color subpixel. We propose to split the incoming light thanks to a new type of NJ-based near-field focusing double-material element with an insert. To suppress crosstalk, we use a Deep-Trench Isolation (DTI) structure. We demonstrate that the use of a dielectric insert block allows for reduction in the size of the color splitting element. By changing the position of the DTI, the functionality of separating blue, green and red light can be improved.

Keywords: NJ beam deflection; color splitter; double material element; image sensor; light diffraction.