Physical information acquisition method, a physical information acquisition apparatus, and a semiconductor device

Abstract

In particular for a solid-state image sensor with high resolution, a control line is not driven at any of two end points of the control line, but the control line is driven at two arbitrary dividing points on the control line. Preferably, two points on control line whose distance from a closer end of a range in which skew is to be suppressed is equal to ¼ of the total length of the range may be selected as the dividing points at which the control line is driven. In this case, the time constant at points farthest from the driving points becomes ¼ of that which occurs when the control line is driven at both end points thereof and 1 / 16 of that which occurs when the control line is driven at one end point thereof, and thus, theoretically, the skew can be reduced to ¼ or 1 / 16 of that which occurs when the control line is driven at both end points or only one end point.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present invention contains subject matter related to Japanese Patent Application JP 2004-195502 filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Jul. 1, 2004, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a physical information acquisition method, a physical information acquisition apparatus, and a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a driving control technique in reading unit-element signals from unit elements, particularly suitable for use in a semiconductor device, such as a solid-state image sensor including an array of unit elements sensitive to an electromagnetic wave such as light or radiation incident from the outside and capable of outputting an electrical signal indicating a physical quantity distribution detected by the unit elements. [0003] In various applications, to detect a physical quantity distributio...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0022] The present invention provides a first physical information acquisition method of reading unit-element signals from a semiconductor device, the semiconductor device including unit elements arranged in a particular order, each unit element having a unit-element signal generation part for outputting a unit-element signal indicating a detected change in a physical quantity, wherein a control line for driving unit elements to read unit-element signals from the respective unit elements is driven at a dividing point on the control line, and more preferably at a plurality of dividing points on the control line.

[0023] The present invention provides a second a physical information acquisition method, in which a control line is driven at an original driving point that results in a reduction in a maximum value of a product of load

Problems solved by technology

The increase in the number of pixel transistors and an increase in the number of functions achieved by the capability of accessing arbitrary pixels result in an increase in the length of control lines for controlling reading of pixel signals.

This causes an increase in load imposed on drivers connected to the control lines and also causes an increase in skew, which cannot be neglected.

Accordingly skew caused by the difference in locations of pixels along these control signal lines or the horizontal signal line becomes very serious.

This can make it impossible to read pixel signals or can cause shading.

However, even when pixels are driven from both sides, the dependence of the distance can be still large.

That is, when pixels are driven from both sides, it becomes more difficult to read a signal from a pixel located at the center of the line as the number of pixels increases and / or as the signal reading rate increases.

This is a serious problem to be solved when the signal reading rate is increased.

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