Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Sony Corporation

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation

Tadayuki Taura

Shigeru Atsumi

Toru Tanzawa

Masaki Sakakibara

Masao Kuriyama

Yusuke Oike

Akira Umezawa

Hidetoshi Saito

Akihiko Kato

Hironori Banba

Takafumi Takatsuka

Hitoshi Shiga

Yoshinori Takano

Masamichi Asano

Tadashi Miyakawa

Tokumasa Hara

Hidekazu Kikuchi

Atsushi Shoji

Michiharu Inami

Mamoru Sato

Shinichi Yoshimura

Atsushi Toda

Hiroshi Iwahashi

Hideo Kato

Hiroki Sato

Yoshinori Muramatsu

Yasuhiko Honda

Masanori Kasai

Kazunori Kanebako

Ikuhiro Yamamura

Koji Ogawa

Yasuhisa Tochigi

Sadayuki Yokoyama

Shuji Maeda

Masaki Sakibara

An imaging device for improving the determining speed of a comparator and reducing power consumption. The comparator imaging device includes a differential input circuit that operates with a first power supply voltage, the differential input circuit outputs a signal when an input signal is higher than a reference signal in voltage, and a positive feedback circuit that operates with a second power supply voltage lower than the first power supply voltage. The positive feedback circuit accelerates transition speed when a compared result signal indicating a compared result between the input signal and the reference signal in voltage, is inverted, on the basis of the output signal of the differential input circuit. The imaging device further includes a voltage conversion circuit that converts the output signal of the differential input circuit into a signal corresponding to the second power supply voltage.

Comparator, AD converter, solid-state image pickup device, electronic device, method of controlling comparator, data writing circuit, data reading circuit, and data transferring circuit

The present disclosure relates to a solid-state imaging apparatus and electronic equipment that can reduce power consumption. In an AD converter for each unit pixel or each shared pixel unit, a pixel signal is compared with a reference signal temporally changing. In addition, a magnitude of a pixel signal of a pixel of interest is compared with a magnitude of each of pixel signals of neighboring pixels located in a neighborhood of the pixel of interest using the reference signal, and a result of comparison of the magnitudes is held in a data storage section. The present disclosure can be applied to a back-illuminated solid-state imaging apparatus, for example.

Solid-state imaging apparatus and electronic equipment

The present disclosure relates to a solid-state imaging apparatus, a method for driving the solid-state imaging apparatus, and electronic equipment for improving the determination speed of comparators and allowing the comparators to operate faster. A differential input circuit operates on a first power supply voltage and outputs a signal when a voltage of a pixel signal is higher than a voltage of a reference signal. A voltage conversion circuit converts the output signal from the differential input circuit into a signal corresponding to a second power supply voltage. A positive feedback circuit accelerates a transition rate at which a comparison result signal of a comparison in voltage between the pixel signal and the reference signal is inverted. Multiple time code transfer sections each include a shift register that transfer a time code. The present disclosure can be applied, for example, to an imaging apparatus including A/D converters disposed in pixels.

Solid-state imaging apparatus, method for driving solid-state imaging apparatus, and electronic equipment

An imaging device for improving the determining speed of the comparator and reducing power consumption. The comparator includes a differential input circuit that operates with a first power supply voltage, the differential input circuit that outputs a signal when an input signal is higher than a reference signal in voltage, a positive feedback circuit that operates with a second power supply voltage lower than the first power supply voltage and accelerates transition speed when a compared result signal indicating a compared result between the input signal and the reference signal in voltage, is inverted, based on the output signal of the differential input circuit, and a voltage conversion circuit that converts the output signal of the differential input circuit into a signal corresponding to the second power supply voltage.

The present disclosure relates to a solid-state imaging element and an electronic apparatus, in which the number of wires controlling readout can be reduced in a case where a pixel signal of each pixel is read out in a predetermined order for each unit pixel region. The unit pixel region is configured by a plurality of pixels arranged in an array. A readout circuit is provided for each unit pixel region and reads out, in a predetermined order, pixel signals of the plurality of pixels configuring the unit pixel regions. Pixel drive wires, which control readout of the pixels configuring the unit pixel regions adjacent in the vertical direction and having the same readout order, are shared. The present disclosure can be applied to, for example, a CMOS image sensor and the like.

Solid-state imaging element and electronic apparatus with unit pixel regions, a readout circuit for each of the unit pixel regions, and a compensation unit

A solid-state imaging device includes a pixel array section that has at least one pixel with a photoelectric conversion unit and a charge detection unit. A driving section is configured to read out a signal of the pixel, a first portion of said signal being based on signal charge, a second portion of said signal being based on a reset potential. A signal processing section is configured to read out the first portion of the signal as a reference voltage, with the reference voltage being adjusted to cause the first and second portions of the signal to be within an input voltage range.

Solid-state image pickup apparatus, signal processing method for a solid-state image pickup apparatus, and electronic apparatus

An electronic device is provided for improving the determining speed of the comparator and reducing power consumption. The comparator includes a differential input circuit configured to operate with a first power supply voltage and output a signal when an input signal is higher than a reference signal in voltage; a positive feedback circuit configured to operate with a second power supply voltage lower than the first power supply voltage and to accelerate transition speed when a compared result signal indicating a compared result between the input signal and the reference signal in voltage, is inverted, based on the output signal of the differential input circuit; and a voltage conversion circuit configured to convert the output signal of the differential input circuit into a signal corresponding to the second power supply voltage.

Comparator, ad converter, solid-state image pickup device, electronic device, method of controlling comparator, data writing circuit, data reading circuit, and data transferring circuit

The present disclosure relates to an imaging element, a control method, and an imaging apparatus that enable an image of a higher image quality to be obtained. An imaging apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a plurality of comparing units that compare analog signals supplied from pixels including photoelectric conversion elements through a vertical signal line with reference signals of ramp waves having different inclinations and output comparison results, a plurality of counters that execute counts until the comparison results are inverted for the different comparing units and output count values as digital data, and a sample-and-hold unit that electrically cuts the vertical signal line and the comparing units and supplies the held analog signals to the comparing units while the comparing units execute the comparisons. The present disclosure can be applied to an imaging element, a control method, and an imaging apparatus.

Imaging element, control method, and imaging apparatus

A data processor including: a reference signal generator to generate a reference signal, used to convert a level of an analog processing signal into digital data; a comparator to compare the processing signal with the reference signal; and a count period controller to perform a real number count operation or a complement number count operation, on the basis of the comparison result of the comparator. The count period controller independently controls the real number count operation and the complement number count operation of the counter on the basis of a predetermined criterion.

Data processor, solid-state imaging device, imaging device, and electronic apparatus

An imaging apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a plurality of comparing units that compare analog signals supplied from pixels including photoelectric conversion elements through a vertical signal line with reference signals of ramp waves having different inclinations and output comparison results, a plurality of counters that execute counts until the comparison results are inverted for the different comparing units and output count values as digital data, and a sample-and-hold unit that electrically disconnects the vertical signal line and the comparing units and supplies the held analog signals to the comparing units while the comparing units execute the comparisons. The present disclosure can be applied to an imaging element, a control method, and an imaging apparatus.

Disclosed herein is a solid-state image taking apparatus, includes: a pixel array section including unit pixels laid out two-dimensionally to form a matrix to serve as unit pixels each employing an opto-electric conversion device, a transfer transistor, a first electric-charge accumulation section, a read transistor, a second electric-charge accumulation section, a reset transistor, and an amplification transistor; a driving section; and a correction section.

Solid-state image taking apparatus, method for driving solid-state image taking apparatus and electronic apparatus

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Kanagawa, Japan

Tadayuki Taura