900 thus the shallow n layer between p bones is advantageous in that it increases the efficiency of the photodiode device the fishbone photodiode 900 of fig9 a is fabricated with a thick oxide region 915 on top of each of the pn junctions 930 prior to the growth deposition of the relatively thin anti reflective ar layers 941 942 in one embodiment thick oxide regions 915 comprise approximately 8000 u00e5 of silicon oxide and approximately 425 u00e5 of silicon nitride since the p n junctions are passivated with the thick oxide regions 915 the device has more structural rigidity and integrity and is less prone to junction degradation in one embodiment ar layer 941 comprises silicon oxide and has a thickness of 150 u00e5 in one embodiment ar layer 942 comprises silicon nitride and has a thickness of 425 u00e5 fig9 b shows a front side view of fishbone photodiode array 900 shown as a cross sectional view in fig9 a in this example but not limited to such example photodiode array 900 comprises at least one photodiode element 901 which in turn comprises an eight p bone layout as described earlier it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the use of eight p bones and a larger.