US 12,452,561 B2
Image capturing apparatus and electronic device
Haruhisa Naganokawa, Kanagawa (JP); and Kengo Umeda, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, Kanagawa (JP)
Appl. No. 18/554,342
Filed by Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, Kanagawa (JP)
PCT Filed Mar. 29, 2022, PCT No. PCT/JP2022/015491
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 6, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/249736, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 1, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-087990 (JP), filed on May 25, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0121531 A1, Apr. 11, 2024
Int. Cl. H04N 25/778 (2023.01); H04N 25/772 (2023.01); H04N 25/78 (2023.01)
CPC H04N 25/778 (2023.01) [H04N 25/772 (2023.01); H04N 25/78 (2023.01)] 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An image capturing apparatus comprising:
a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion unit;
a floating diffusion that outputs a voltage according to a charge obtained from photoelectric conversion by the photoelectric conversion unit in the pixel;
a current amplification unit that amplifies a current according to the voltage of the floating diffusion;
a storage unit that stores a signal according to the current amplified by the current amplification unit;
an analog-digital converter, provided for each of area pixels constituted by two or more of the pixels among the plurality of pixels, that converts the signals stored in two or more of the storage units corresponding to the two or more pixels in the area pixel into digital signals;
a plurality of regions which are layered and in which a plurality of the photoelectric conversion units in the plurality of pixels, a plurality of the analog-digital converters, a plurality of the floating diffusions, a plurality of the current amplification units, and a plurality of the storage units are disposed; and
a signal transmission unit that transmits and receives signals between the plurality of regions,
wherein of the plurality of regions, a region in which the plurality of photoelectric conversion units are disposed is provided separate from a region in which the plurality of current amplification units are disposed, and
the region in which the plurality of photoelectric conversion units are disposed in the area pixel and the region in which the plurality of current amplification units are disposed in the area pixel transmit and receive the voltages of the plurality of floating diffusions through corresponding ones of the signal transmission units.