Photoelectric conversion device, circuit board and apparatus

Abstract

To provide a technique advantageous to shorten a time required for reading a signal from a pixel and performing analog-digital conversion.SOLUTION: A photoelectric conversion device includes: a pixel having a photoelectric conversion element and for outputting two signals having different amplitude; a sample hold part for sampling and holding each of the two signals output from the pixel; and an oversampling type conversion circuit for performing analog-digital conversion of the two signals output from the sample hold part in order, wherein a period for performing analog-digital conversion of a signal with a smaller amplitude of the two signals is set shorter than a period for performing analog-digital conversion of a signal with a larger amplitude of the two signals.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Claims

1. A pixel having a photoelectric conversion element and outputting two signals with different amplitudes based on light incident on the photoelectric conversion element, A sample-and-hold unit that samples and holds the two signals output from the aforementioned pixel, A photoelectric converter comprising an oversampling type conversion circuit that sequentially converts each of the sampled and held signals into analog-to-digital signals, A photoelectric converter in which the period for converting the signal with the smaller amplitude of the two signals into an analog-to-digital format is set to be shorter than the period for converting the signal with the larger amplitude of the two signals into an analog-to-digital format.

2. A pixel having a photoelectric conversion element and outputting two signals with different amplitudes based on light incident on the photoelectric conversion element, A sample-and-hold unit that samples and holds the two signals output from the aforementioned pixel, A photoelectric converter comprising an oversampling type conversion circuit that sequentially converts each of the sampled and held signals into analog-to-digital signals, A photoelectric converter in which the sample-and-hold period for the signal with the smaller amplitude of the two signals is set to be shorter than the sample-and-hold period for the signal with the larger amplitude of the two signals.

3. The photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a circuit between the sample-and-hold unit and the conversion circuit for adjusting the magnitudes of the two signals output from the sample-and-hold unit.

4. The photoelectric conversion device according to claim 3, characterized in that the circuit for adjusting the magnitude adjusts the magnitude of each of the two signals.

5. The photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the sample-and-hold unit includes an amplification circuit, and the two signals are output via the amplification circuit.

6. The photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the conversion circuit converts the difference between the two signals and the reset level signal of the photoelectric conversion element from analog to digital.

7. The photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pixel has two photoelectric conversion elements, and the signal from one of the two photoelectric conversion elements and the signals from the two photoelectric conversion elements are used to form the two signals.

8. The photoelectric conversion device according to claim 7, characterized in that the two photoelectric conversion elements are arranged in different rows of the pixels arranged in a matrix.

9. The photoelectric converter according to claim 7, characterized in that microlenses are arranged corresponding to the pixels, and a phase difference signal is generated based on the two signals.

10. The photoelectric conversion device according to claim 7, characterized in that the amounts of charge generated by the two photoelectric conversion elements are different for light incident during the same period.

11. The photoelectric converter according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the analog-to-digital conversion is performed while a clock signal is supplied to the conversion circuit.

12. The photoelectric converter according to claim 11, characterized in that the number of cycles of the clock signal supplied during the period for converting the signal with the smaller amplitude to an analog-to-digital format is set to be less than the number of cycles of the clock signal supplied for converting the signal with the larger amplitude to an analog-to-digital format.

13. The photoelectric converter according to claim 11, characterized in that the frequency of the clock signal supplied during the period for converting the signal with a smaller amplitude to an analog-to-digital format is set higher than the frequency of the clock signal supplied for converting the signal with a larger amplitude to an analog-to-digital format.

14. The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the two signals are each held in two capacitive elements of the sample-and-hold unit.

15. The photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that an integrator is provided at the input of the conversion circuit.

16. The photoelectric converter according to claim 15, characterized in that the integrator is reset during periods when no analog-to-digital conversion is performed.

17. The photoelectric converter according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by comprising a plurality of sample-and-hold units, a selection circuit for selecting the plurality of sample-and-hold units, and a conversion circuit for converting signals from the selected sample-and-hold units from analog to digital.

18. The photoelectric converter according to claim 17, characterized in that the period for converting the signal from the first sample-and-hold unit among the plurality of sample-and-hold units to analog-to-digital is set to overlap with the period for the second sample-and-hold unit among the plurality of sample-and-hold units to sample and hold the signal from the pixel.

19. A substrate having a photoelectric conversion element and a pixel arranged on which two signals with different amplitudes based on light incident on the photoelectric conversion element are arranged, and a substrate stacked on top of the substrate, A sample-and-hold unit that samples and holds the two signals output from the aforementioned pixel, The system includes an oversampling type conversion circuit that sequentially converts each of the sampled and held signals into analog-to-digital signals, A circuit board in which the period for converting the signal with the smaller amplitude of the two aforementioned signals to analog-to-digital is set to be shorter than the period for converting the signal with the larger amplitude to analog-to-digital.

20. A substrate having a photoelectric conversion element and a pixel arranged on which two signals with different amplitudes based on light incident on the photoelectric conversion element are arranged, and a substrate stacked on top of the substrate, A sample-and-hold unit that samples and holds the two signals output from the aforementioned pixel, The system includes an oversampling type conversion circuit that sequentially converts each of the sampled and held signals into analog-to-digital signals, A substrate in which the sample-and-hold period for the signal with the smaller amplitude is set to be shorter than the sample-and-hold period for the signal with the larger amplitude.

21. A photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 or 2, The apparatus is characterized by comprising a processing device for processing the output signal from the aforementioned photoelectric converter.

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