Sony Corporation

Rohm Co., Ltd.

Ken Koseki

Tsutomu Haruta

Atsushi Suzuki

Yosuke Ueno

Yoshiaki Inada

Yasuaki Hisamatsu

Toshiaki Nagai

Keiji Mabuchi

Toshifumi Wakano

Hayato Wakabayashi

Yukihiro Yasui

Kenichi Takamiya

Hiroki Ui

Yuuki Yamagata

Junichi Inutsuka

Noritaka Fujita

Nobuo Nakamura

Masaru Kikuchi

Akari Tajima

Makoto Aoki

Masanori Onodera

Go Asayama

Hiroyuki Iwaki

Kenichi Shigenami

Tatsuro Shimizu

Kazuhide Yokota

Hiroyuki Taguchi

Daijiro Anai

Masato Nishinouchi

Haruhisa Naganokawa

Tatsuya Ninomiya

Takahiro Akahane

Rei Takamori

Kenya Kondou

Hiroyuki Terakago

Yoko Okuzaki

Yasushi Nakamoto

Kuniaki Kataoka

Akiko Fujiwara

Kenichi Matsunaga

Yukio Fujita

Kazushi Kitagata

Soichiro Kuramochi

Kouzo Adachi

Koji Yahazu

Syouhei Taguchi

Disclosed herein is an image pickup circuit including: amplifying means for amplifying a charge corresponding to an amount of light received by a photodetector, and outputting a pixel signal; ramp signal generating means for generating a ramp signal whose voltage drops with a fixed slope from a predetermined initial voltage; and comparing means for comparing the pixel signal output by the amplifying means with the ramp signal output by the ramp signal generating means. A reference potential of the pixel signal output by the amplifying means and a reference potential of the ramp signal output by the ramp signal generating means are at a same level.

Image pickup circuit, CMOS sensor, and image pickup device

A semiconductor apparatus, a solid-state image sensing apparatus, and a camera system capable of reducing interference between signals transmitted through adjacent via holes, preventing an increase in the number of the via holes, reducing the area of a chip having sensors thereon and the number of mounting steps thereof. First and second chips are bonded together to form a laminated structure, a wiring between the first chip and the second chip being connected through via holes, the first chip transmitting signals obtained by time-discretizing analog signals generated by respective sensors to the second chip through the corresponding via holes, the second chip sampling the signals transmitted from the first chip through the via holes at a timing different from a timing at which the signals are sampled by the first chip and quantizing the sampled signals to obtain digital signals.

Semiconductor apparatus, solid-state image sensing apparatus, and camera system

A camera module of the disclosure includes: an imaging unit that includes a plurality of pixels, acquires a first detection value in one of the pixels in a second term out of a first term, the second term, a third term, and a fourth term that are set in order, acquires a second detection value in the relevant one of the pixels in the fourth term, and obtains a pixel value of the relevant one of the pixels on the basis of a difference between the first and second detection values; a lens unit including a lens and an actuator that drives the lens; and a driver unit that generates a drive signal and drives the actuator using the drive signal, in which the drive signal makes a transition in each of the first and third terms.

Camera module and electronic apparatus

Semiconductor apparatus, solid-state image sensing apparatus, and camera system having via holes between substrates

A solid-state imaging device in which the potential of a signal line, which is obtained before a pixel has an operating period, is fixed to an intermediate potential between a first power-supply potential and a second power-supply potential.

Solid-state imaging device and driving method therefor

A semiconductor apparatus, a solid-state image sensing apparatus, and a camera system capable of reducing interference between signals transmitted through adjacent via holes, preventing an increase in the number of the via holes, reducing the area of a chip having sensors thereon and the number of mounting steps thereof. A first chip and a second chip are bonded together to form a laminated structure, a wiring between the first chip and the second chip being connected through via holes, the first chip transmitting signals obtained by time-discretizing analog signals generated by respective sensors to the second chip through the corresponding via holes, the second chip having a function of sampling the signals transmitted from the first chip through the via holes at a timing different from a timing at which the signals are sampled by the first chip and a function of quantizing the sampled signals to obtain digital signals.

There is provided a solid state imaging apparatus, including a plurality of line sensors including a plurality of pixels arrayed in a line, each of the pixels including an amplifier which amplifies a signal corresponding to a charge accumulated in a photoelectric transducer, and signal lines each for reading a signal of each pixel of the line sensors. The plurality of line sensors are discretely arranged, and the signal lines are gathered and wired along a region in which a circuit block including the line sensors is arranged.

Solid state imaging apparatus, electronic apparatus, and pixel reading method

The present invention relates to an image sensor capable of obtaining a good-quality image with a simple configuration. A pixel accumulates a charge by performing photoelectric conversion on incident light, and outputs a pixel signal corresponding to the charge. A vertical scanning circuit controls the pixel to cause the pixel to perform a shutter process of discharging an unnecessary charge accumulated in the pixel, a charge accumulation process of accumulating a charge generated through photoelectric conversion in a predetermined exposure time in the pixel, and a read process of outputting a pixel signal corresponding to the charge accumulated in the pixel in the charge accumulation process. Also, the control means causes the charge generated through photoelectric conversion in the pixel to be discharged in a non-accumulation period, which is a period other than a period when the shutter process is being performed, a period when the charge accumulation process is being performed, and a period when the read process is being performed. The present invention can be applied to a CMOS sensor, for example.

Image sensor

Solid-state imaging device and driving method thereof

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Ken Koseki