Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Masaaki Iwane

Shoji Nishida

Noritaka Ukiyo

Akira Okita

Katsumi Nakagawa

Masaki Mizutani

Takao Yonehara

Takehito Yoshino

Tatsumi Shoji

Yoshiaki Takada

Shoji Kono

Tetsuro Saito

Hiroki Hiyama

Kiyofumi Sakaguchi

Koichi Fukuda

Kazuo Yamazaki

Junichi Saito

Kazuki Ohshitanai

Yumi Takao

Makoto Iwakami

Yukihiro Kuroda

Yukiko Iwasaki

Yu Arishima

Masaaki Minowa

Masahiro Kobayashi

Takanori Watanabe

Mahito Shinohara

Kohichi Nakamura

Kazuaki Ohmi

Hideo Kobayashi

Yuichiro Yamashita

Hidetoshi Suzuki

Hideaki Mitsutake

Hiroshi Sato

Takeshi Akiyama

Shunichi Ishihara

Koichiro Iwata

Yasuyoshi Takai

Kazutaka Yanagita

Kohei Inamura

Izumi Kanai

Noritake Suzuki

Yasushi Nakata

Hiroo Akabori

Hiroyuki Morita

Isao Tanikawa

Shusuke Yanagawa

A semiconductor device including a first buffer circuit and a second buffer circuit each configured to output a control signal to one control line based on an input from a signal output circuit, and an element configured to receive the control signal transmitted through the one control line. The second buffer circuit is switchable between electrical connection and electrical disconnection to the one control line. A first mode in which a current is supplied to the one control line with a first driving capability by the first buffer circuit and a second mode in which a current is supplied to the one control line with a second driving capability greater than the first driving capability by both the first buffer circuit and the second buffer circuit are switchable.

Semiconductor device that selectively supplies a control line with a first driving capability or a second driving capability

Provided is a photoelectric conversion device including a pixel array that includes pixels forming columns and is arranged in a substrate, first signal lines each transmitting a signal output from a pixel of a corresponding column, an analog circuit arranged in the substrate and configured to process signals from the pixels, second signal lines transmitting signals from the pixels to the analog circuit on a column basis, a switch configured to change a combination of connections between the first signal lines and the second signal lines, and a shift register arranged in the substrate, including a flip-flop, and configured to control the switch. In a plan view with respect to the substrate, the shift register is arranged between the pixel array and the analog circuit. In the plan view, the switch and the flip-flop are arranged in a direction different from a direction in which the first signal lines extend.

Photoelectric conversion device and method of driving photoelectric conversion device

Provided is an electronic device including a cell array unit in which cells are arranged in rows and columns, signal lines, each of the signal lines being arranged corresponding to one of the rows or columns and being connected to corresponding cells, a first electrode via which a signal according to a signal transmitted via at least one of the signal lines passes, a second electrode to which a selection signal is input to select a part of the signal lines; and a third electrode that is electrically connected to a node between cells that are connected to the part of the signal lines selected based on the selection signal and the first electrode. A voltage potential of the third electrode correlates with a voltage potential of the part of the signal lines selected based on the selection signal.

Electronic device, system, and method of controlling electronic device

A PLL circuit includes: a charge pump; a voltage-controlled oscillator including an oscillation portion; and a voltage-converting circuit configured to convert a voltage from the charge pump and apply the converted voltage to the voltage-controlled oscillator. The power supply range supplied to the voltage-converting circuit is larger than the power supply range supplied to the oscillation portion of the voltage-controlled oscillator.

PLL circuit, semiconductor apparatus, equipment

An image sensor comprising a pixel portion that is constituted by a plurality of pixels, and includes a first pixel group and a second pixel group, wherein each of the pixels included in the first pixel group and the second pixel group includes: a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions; and a plurality of transfer gates that respectively correspond to the photoelectric conversion portions, and have transfer gate electrodes covering same partial regions in the photoelectric conversion portions, and an average position of barycenters of respective light receivable regions of the photoelectric conversion portions included in each pixel of the first pixel group and an average position of barycenters of respective light receivable regions of the photoelectric conversion portions included in each pixel of the second pixel group are at positions different from each other in the pixels.

Image sensor and image capturing apparatus

A solid-state imaging device includes a plurality of pixels, a reference signal supply unit configured to output a reference signal, and a comparison unit configured to output a signal depending on the reference signal and a signal from the pixel. The comparison unit includes a comparator circuit including an input terminal and an output terminal, a first switch configured to connect the input terminal and the output terminal of the comparator circuit, a clamp capacitor including a first terminal connected to the input terminal of the comparator circuit, a second switch connected to a second terminal of the clamp capacitor, and configured to select one of the signal from the pixel and the reference signal and to input the selected signal to the second terminal, and a clipping circuit arranged in an electrical path through which the reference signal is input to the comparator circuit.

Solid-state imaging device

Provided is a solid-state imaging apparatus, including: a first amplifier and a second amplifier; a coupling capacitor including a first electrode and a second electrode; a first metal member configured to connect an output terminal of the first amplifier and the first electrode; and a second metal member configured to connect an input terminal of the second amplifier and the second electrode, wherein, in a cross section perpendicular to a line that runs from the second electrode toward the input terminal of the second amplifier, the first metal member is arranged in at least two directions out of directions relative to the second metal member that are above, below, to the left of, and to the right of the second metal member.

Solid-state imaging apparatus and imaging system

The imaging device includes a first pixel group and a second pixel group that include a plurality of pixels each having a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions that are separated by an isolation portion and arranged in a first direction and a plurality of transfer gates that transfer charges of the plurality of photoelectric conversion portions. A position of at least a part of the isolation portion within each of the pixels of the first pixel group and a position of at least a part of the isolation portion within each of the pixels of the second pixel group are shifted relative to each other in the first direction. Respective widths of portions where the plurality of separated photoelectric conversion portions overlap with the plurality of transfer gates in a planar view are the same.

Imaging device having a plurality of pixels each with a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions covered by one microlens of a plurality of microlenses

Imaging device, imaging system, and manufacturing method of imaging device

Solid-state imaging apparatus and imaging system having first and second metal members arranged in different directions

Provided is a solid-state image pickup apparatus, including: a pixel region, in which a plurality of pixels each including an amplifier transistor are arranged two-dimensionally in rows and columns, and which includes an n-row signal mixing region in which outputs of n amplifier transistors are mixed, where n is a natural number of 1 or more, and an m-row signal mixing region in which outputs of m amplifier transistors are mixed, where m&#x3e;n; a column signal line to which a voltage from the amplifier transistor is output; and a clipping circuit, which is configured to clip a voltage in the column signal line, and is arranged at a position that is closer to the n-row signal mixing region than to the m-row signal mixing region.

Solid-state image pickup apparatus and image pickup system having a clipping circuit arranged close to an N-row signal mixing region

The present invention provides a driving method for an image pickup apparatus that appropriately performs both readout of a signal of a reference pixel and mixing of mutual signals output by a plurality of effective pixels, and the present invention also provides an image pickup apparatus and an image pickup system.

Driving method for an image pickup apparatus, image pickup apparatus, and image pickup system

A solid-state imaging apparatus including a pixel array, the column signal lines, arranged so as to correspond to each column of the pixel array, for reading out signals from the pixel array, the current sources, for supplying currents corresponding to potentials of controlling terminals of the current sources to the column signal lines, and a supplying unit for supplying a first potential and a second potential to the controlling terminals, wherein in a first mode for reading out the signals from the pixel array, the supplying unit supplies the first potential to the controlling terminals, and in a second mode for stopping the reading out, the supplying unit supplies the second potential to the controlling terminals, and the currents supplied by the current sources of the second mode is smaller than that of the first mode.

Solid-state imaging apparatus and camera

Growing community of inventors

Sagamihara, Japan

Masaaki Iwane