Solid-state image pickup device
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A solid-state image pickup device, comprising:
- a number of photoelectric conversion elements disposed in a plurality of rows and columns in a surface of a semiconductor substrate, each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element column of an even number being shifted in a column direction by about a half pitch between photoelectric conversion elements in each photoelectric conversion element column, relative to each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element column of an odd number, and each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element row of an even number being shifted in a row direction by about a half pitch between photoelectric conversion elements in each photoelectric conversion element row, relative to each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element row of an odd number, so that each photoelectric conversion element row includes photoelectric conversion elements of only in the odd or even columns;
a switching circuit unit provided per each photoelectric conversion element, said switching circuit unit including an output transistor capable of generating an electric signal representing an amount of a signal charge accumulated in a corresponding photoelectric conversion element;
a row select signal wiring line provided per each photoelectric conversion element row and extending along a corresponding photoelectric conversion element row, said row select signal wiring line supplying a row select signal to each corresponding switching circuit units, the row select signal controlling generation of the electric signal;
an analog/digital conversion unit provided for each pair of adjacent photoelectric conversion element columns; and
at least one output signal line provided per each analog/digital conversion unit, the output signal line electrically connecting said analog/digital conversion unit and the output transistor provided for each photoelectric conversion element in at least one of the photoelectric conversion element columns corresponding to said analog/digital conversion unit.
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Abstract
A number of photoelectric conversion elements are disposed in a plurality of rows and columns in a pixel shift layout, and an analog/digital conversion unit is provided per two photoelectric conversion element columns to form a MOS type solid-state image pickup device. It is possible to suppress an increase in the manufacture cost of MOS type solid state image pickup devices with built-in A/D conversion units and improve the integration degree of photoelectric conversion elements.
27 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A solid-state image pickup device, comprising:
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a number of photoelectric conversion elements disposed in a plurality of rows and columns in a surface of a semiconductor substrate, each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element column of an even number being shifted in a column direction by about a half pitch between photoelectric conversion elements in each photoelectric conversion element column, relative to each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element column of an odd number, and each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element row of an even number being shifted in a row direction by about a half pitch between photoelectric conversion elements in each photoelectric conversion element row, relative to each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element row of an odd number, so that each photoelectric conversion element row includes photoelectric conversion elements of only in the odd or even columns;
a switching circuit unit provided per each photoelectric conversion element, said switching circuit unit including an output transistor capable of generating an electric signal representing an amount of a signal charge accumulated in a corresponding photoelectric conversion element;
a row select signal wiring line provided per each photoelectric conversion element row and extending along a corresponding photoelectric conversion element row, said row select signal wiring line supplying a row select signal to each corresponding switching circuit units, the row select signal controlling generation of the electric signal;
an analog/digital conversion unit provided for each pair of adjacent photoelectric conversion element columns; and
at least one output signal line provided per each analog/digital conversion unit, the output signal line electrically connecting said analog/digital conversion unit and the output transistor provided for each photoelectric conversion element in at least one of the photoelectric conversion element columns corresponding to said analog/digital conversion unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification