A cmos image sensor

Abstract

The invention discloses an image sensor which comprises a plurality of pixel units, control units and readout circuits, wherein each pixel unit comprises a plurality of pixels; each pixel comprises a plurality of sub-pixels; the readout circuits are correspondingly connected with the pixels and used for reading out a combined output signal of the sub-pixels of the pixels according to control signals sent from the control units or reading out the output signals of the sub-pixels of the pixels in sequence respectively. The image sensor has the advantages of capability of being switched between split and combined modes for meeting different requirements, and wider application range.

Description

technical field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of image sensors, in particular to a CMOS image sensor. Background technique

[0002] Image sensors are an important part of digital cameras. According to the different components, it can be divided into two categories: CCD (Charge Coupled Device, charge-coupled device) and CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor, metal oxide semiconductor device). A prerequisite for the wide application of CMOS sensors is their higher sensitivity, shorter exposure time and shrinking pixel size.

[0003] Among them, the pixel sensitivity, one of the important performance indicators of the CMOS image sensor, is mainly determined by the product of the fill factor (the ratio of the photosensitive area to the entire pixel area) and the quantum efficiency (the number of electrons generated by the photons bombarding the screen). In CMOS image sensors, in order to achieve noise index and sensitivity level comparable to CCD converters...

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