Low light level photoreceptor

摘要

Circuitry and circuitry layout are provided to achieve a high percentage of photoreceiver area to total area and to stabilize the voltage at the base node (56) of a phototransistor (36). Voltage stabilization is achieved by a servo circuit in which a negative feedback loop from the base node to an emitter node (62) maintains a bias point, so that photocurrent is efficiently delivered to charge transfer circuitry (46). In the preferred embodiment, the base node is connected to a gate of a first transistor (50) having a drain that is connected to a source of constant current and to a gate of a second transistor (52) that functions as a source follower. The source of the second transistor is connected to the emitter node of a phototransistor. As photocurrent is generated by the reception of light, an integration capacitor (30) is charged. The relatively high percentage of photoreceiver area to total area is achieved by contributions from a number of factors, including the design of the servo circuit, use of a single transfer amplifier to service an entire row of phototransistors, and pairing the phototransistor circuits in order to permit efficient sharing of common circuit paths and circuit components.