1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging device having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements and an imaging device having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A solid-state imaging device includes a plurality of pixel circuits, each having a photoelectric conversion element.
The plurality of pixel circuits are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix on one surface of a semiconductor substrate.
In the plurality of pixel circuits, a row address line is generally connected to each row of the matrix of the pixel circuits, and a column signal line connected to each column thereof. The plurality of row address lines are connected to a vertical scan section.
When the vertical scan section selects a row address line, pixel signals of the photoelectric conversion element in the plurality of pixel circuits connected to the row address line are output from the plurality of pixel circuits to the plurality of column signal lines.
Further, the vertical scan section performs addressing adapted to select all the plurality of row address lines one at a time in sequence every scan period, thus allowing for the solid-state imaging device to output a plurality of pixel signals making up one image every scan period.
Incidentally, each pixel circuit includes, in addition to a photoelectric conversion element, a readout circuit adapted to output a pixel signal, based on the photoelectric conversion element, to a column signal line. The readout circuit includes a plurality of transistors.
Therefore, a possible arrangement would be to share a readout circuit among a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements rather than providing a readout circuit for each photoelectric conversion element (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-115994).
This contributes to a reduced number of transistors in each of the readout circuits in the solid-state imaging device as a whole, thus contributing to a larger photoreception area for each photoelectric conversion element.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds