Skhynix Inc.

Hyeon-June Kim

Hoe-Sam Jeong

Tae-Hoon Kim

Min-kyu Kim

Hyun-Mook Park

A comparator may include: a comparison block suitable for comparing a ramp signal and a pixel signal, and outputting a comparison signal; a voltage adjusting block suitable for adjusting a clamping voltage; and an output voltage swing control block suitable for controlling an output voltage swing of the comparison block according to the clamping voltage from the voltage adjusting block.

Comparator for low-banding noise and CMOS image sensor including the same

A comparator is provided to comprise a comparison circuit including a first transistor configured to receive a ramp signal and a second transistor configured to receive a pixel signal, the comparison circuit configured to compare the ramp signal and the pixel signal and output a comparison signal at an output node, and an output swing control circuit including a third transistor coupled to the first transistor and the second transistor, and the output swing control circuit including a current path to decrease an amount of current flowing through the second transistor.

Comparator and image sensing device including the same

An image sensing device is provided to comprise: an image sensing region including a first pixel and a second pixel that produce a first pixel signal and a second pixel signal, respectively, in response to reception of light incident on the image sensing region; and a signal processing circuit electrically coupled to the image sensing region and operable to convert the first pixel signal and the second pixel signal to a first digital output and a second digital output, respectively, the signal processing circuit including a first node configured to receive the first pixel signal and the second pixel signal and a second node configured to receive ramp signals used for conversion of the first pixel signal and the second pixel signal.

Image sensing device

Provided are devices having a device including a ramp signal generator which may comprise: a slope control circuit configured to generate a controllable analog reference voltage according to a digital setting code value to control a slope of a ramp signal; and at least one unit current cell configured to adjust the slope of the ramp signal by adjusting a current flowing through the at least one unit current cell according to the controllable analog reference voltage generated by the slope control circuit.

Ramp signal generator and CMOS image sensor using the same

A comparison device includes a comparison block suitable for comparing a pixel signal with a ramp signal and outputting a comparison signal; a banding value generation block suitable for generating a banding value using a setting code value and an analog-digital conversion code value; and a control block suitable for controlling a current an input network of the comparison block according to the banding value outputted from the banding value generation block.

Comparison device and CMOS image sensor including the same

Provided are devices having a ramp signal generator for adjusting a slope of a ramp signal by adjusting a current of a unit current circuit to adjust a step size. The ramp signal generator may include a unit current circuit including one or more current paths that allow a flow of an electrical current generated based on a ramp supply voltage, and a slope adjustment circuit configured to adjust a slope of a ramp signal by changing a current path of the electrical current flowing through the one or more current paths of the unit current circuit.

A ramp signal generation device may be provided to include a ramp signal generator including a plurality of local ramp signal generators, each local ramp signal generator structured to generate a local ramp signals having a local ramp range based on a control of an external control unit, an AC coupler coupled to the ramp signal generator to receive local ramp signals from the ramp signal generator, the AC couple structured to perform AC coupling on the received local ramp signals and generate AC-coupled ramp signals, and an integrator coupled to the AC coupler to receive the AC-coupled ramp signals and structured to integrate the AC-coupled ramp signals into a ramp signal having a full ramp range.

Ramp signal generation device and CMOS image sensor using the same

Provided are a comparison device that may minimize an influence of banding noise by offsetting the banding noise, and a CMOS image sensor including the comparison device. The comparison device may include a comparison circuit configured to compare a pixel signal and a ramp signal with each other and output a comparison signal, a banding noise adjustment circuit coupled to the comparison circuit to adjust electrical characteristic values of the comparison circuit, a banding value generation circuit coupled to the banding noise adjustment circuit to provide the banding noise adjustment circuit with a banding value generated based on a setting code value, and a banding noise reduction circuit coupled to the banding noise adjustment circuit and configured to reduce the banding noise of the comparison circuit by adjusting electrical characteristic values of the comparison circuit.

A comparison device includes a comparison circuit including input ports to receive a pixel signal and a ramp signal, respectively, and structured to compare the pixel signal and the ramp signal to output a comparison signal; a sensing circuit coupled to the comparison circuit and structured to sense a common voltage variation amount from the comparison circuit, wherein the common voltage variation amount depends on the pixel signal such that the common voltage variation amount increases as the pixel signal increases; and a tail current control circuit coupled to the sensing circuit and structured to control a tail current amount of the comparison circuit based on the common voltage variation amount.

A comparison device includes a multi-step pixel signal generation circuit coupled to a pixel to receive a pixel signal and generate a multi-step pixel signal based on the pixel signal according to a multi-step trigger signal and a multi-step size control signal; a comparison circuit coupled to the multi-step pixel signal generation circuit to compare a ramp signal with the multi-step pixel signal and output a comparison signal; and a control circuit coupled to the multi-step pixel signal generation circuit and the comparison circuit to detect crossings of the multi-step pixel signal and the ramp signal based on the comparison signal from the comparison circuit and output the multi-step size control signal to the multi-step pixel signal generation circuit.

Single-slope comparison device with high resolution and low noise and CMOS image sensor including the same

A comparison device includes an offset generation circuit that includes an input port to receive an offset control signal and is structured to generate an offset based on the received offset control signal; a comparison circuit comprising a first input port coupled to the offset generation circuit to receive a first input signal and a second input port coupled to receive a second input signal that is offset by the offset generated by the offset generation circuit and operable to compare the first input signal with the second input signal to produce a comparison signal; and a control circuit coupled to the comparison circuit to receive the comparison signal and operable to detect a crossing of the first input signal and the second input signal according to the comparison signal circuit and to output the offset control signal to the offset generation circuit.

Single-slope comparison device with low-noise, and analog-to-digital conversion device and CMOS image sensor including the same

An ADC includes: a ramp signal selector suitable for selecting a ramp signal selector suitable for selecting a rising half ramp signal or falling half ramp signal according to a ramping direction detection result from a ramping direction detector; a comparator suitable for outputting an initial comparison result signal by initially comparing a half ramp signal and a pixel signal, and outputting a comparison result signal by comparing the rising or falling half ramp signal selected through the ramp signal selector to the pixel signal; the ramping direction detector suitable for detecting a ramping direction according to the initial comparison result signal from the comparator; and a data converter suitable for deciding an initial bit according to the initial comparison result signal from the comparator, and performing data conversion according to the comparison result signal from the comparator.

High-speed and low-power analog-to-digital converter and CMOS image sensor using the same

A comparison device includes an MSB voltage generation circuit that includes a control signal terminal to generate an MSB voltage; a comparison circuit including a first input terminal receiving a first input signal and a second input terminal receiving a second input signal modified by the MSB voltage outputted from the MSB voltage generation circuit to move to a desired voltage range by comparing the first input signal with the modified second input signal to output an MSB comparison result signal, the comparison circuit, after the first input signal has reached the desired voltage range, comparing the first input signal with a residue voltage and outputting an LSB comparison result signal; and a control circuit receiving the comparison signal and operable to detect a crossing of the first input signal and the second input signal according to the MSB comparison result signal and to output the MSB voltage control signal.

A successive approximation register (SAR) analog-digital converter (ADC) may include a comparison circuit coupled to an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns to receive a first pixel signal and a second pixel signal from a first column and a second column, respectively, and structured to compare each of the first and second pixel signals with a reference voltage and output comparison signals; an analog-digital conversion mode decision circuit located to receive the comparison signals from the comparison circuit and structure to provide a mode decision value which decides an analog-digital conversion mode out of different analog-digital conversion modes based on the comparison signals from the comparison circuit; and a shared circuit shared by the first and second columns, and structured to generate the reference voltage based on the comparison signals from the comparison circuit and the mode decision value from the analog-digital conversion mode decision circuit, the shared circuit outputting the reference voltage to the comparison circuit.

Successive approximation register analog-digital converter and SAR ADC system

A comparator includes a first comparison block suitable for sampling a pixel signal, comparing a sampled pixel signal with a coarse ramping voltage, outputting a first comparison signal, sampling a coarse step voltage and outputting a residue voltage as a difference voltage between the sampled pixel signal and a sampled coarse step voltage; and a second comparison block suitable for comparing a fine ramping voltage with the residue voltage of the first comparison block and outputting a second comparison signal.

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Jeollanam-do, South Korea

Hyeon-June Kim