Photoelectric conversion layer-stacked element and method for producing the same

1 . A photoelectric conversion element comprising:

a pixel electrode;

at least one photoelectric conversion layer containing an organic semiconductor;

a transparent counter electrode; and

a passivation layer containing an inorganic material, provided in this order.

2 . The photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material comprises at least one of a metal oxide and a metal nitride.

3 . The photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the inorganic material comprises silicon oxide.

4 . The photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the inorganic material comprises silicon nitride.

5 . The photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the inorganic material comprises silicon oxynitride.

6 . The photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the passivation layer has a stacked structure including two layers, one of the two layers containing one of two materials selected from silicon oxide, silicon nitride and silicon oxynitride, and the other of the two layers containing the other of the two materials.

7 . The photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the passivation layer is formed in vacuo by a dry layer-formation method.

8 . The photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the dry layer-formation method is a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method.

9 . The photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the dry layer-formation method is an inductively coupled plasma CVD method.

10 . The photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the dry layer-formation method is an electron cyclotron resonance plasma CVD method.

11 . A method for producing a photoelectric conversion element including a pixel electrode, at least one photoelectric conversion layer containing an organic semiconductor, a transparent counter electrode, and a passivation layer containing an inorganic material, provided in this order,

wherein the method comprises: forming a passivation layer containing an inorganic material in vacuo by a dry layer-formation method on a transparent counter electrode.

12 . The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the dry layer-formation method is a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method.

13 . The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the dry layer-formation method is an inductively coupled plasma CVD method.

14 . The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the dry layer-formation method is an electron cyclotron resonance plasma CVD method.

15 . A solid-state image pickup element comprising: an Si substrate including a CCD or CMOS signal transferring circuit; and the photoelectric conversion element as claimed in claim 1.