SOLID-STATE IMAGE-PICKUP DEVICE, METHOD FOR DRIVING SOLID-STATE IMAGE-PICKUP DEVICE, AND IMAGE-PICKUP APPARATUS

摘要

A CMOS image sensor in which column-parallel ADCs are mounted. Reference voltages Vref1 to Vref4 having slopes with different gradients and a reference voltage Vref5 are used. Additionally, a comparison circuit that compares an output voltage Vx of a unit pixel with any one of the reference voltages Vref1 to Vref4, and a comparison circuit that compares the one of the reference voltages Vref1 to Vref4 with the reference voltage Vref5 are included in a column processing circuit. High-resolution AD conversion is performed at a high speed by respective operations of the comparison circuits and an up/down counter.