SOLID-STATE IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE AND SAMPLING CIRCUIT

摘要

A solid-state image pickup device which prevents generation of fixed pattern noise, which is caused by nonuniformity of a sampling circuit itself and correlated with a column direction (or a row direction). The solid-state image pickup device is provided with the sampling circuit for sampling a signal from a photoelectric transducer (PD). The sampling circuit is provided with a clamp capacitor (C<SUB>CL</SUB>) for transmitting only the alternating current component of the signal, a sampling capacitor (C<SUB>SH</SUB>) for holding the signal transmitted through the clamp capacitor (C<SUB>CL</SUB>), and a sampling MOS switch (M12) for transmitting the signal to the sampling capacitor (C<SUB>SH</SUB>) or for blocking such transmission. The ratio of the capacity of the clamp capacitor (C<SUB>CL</SUB>) to the capacity of the sampling capacitor (C<SUB>SH</SUB>) is a fixed value determined by the intrinsic capacity of the sampling MOS switch (M12).