Photoelectric conversion apparatus, imaging system, and driving method for photoelectric conversion apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016223884-A1
Application number	US-201614994191-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 13, 2016
Priority date	Feb 4, 2015
Publication date	Aug 4, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is a photoelectric conversion apparatus, including: a plurality of pixels, each of the plurality of pixels including: a photoelectric conversion unit; a charge transfer unit; and an amplification unit; a reference voltage generation unit; a comparison unit configured to output a comparison result by comparing an output voltage from the amplification unit and a reference voltage output from the reference voltage generation unit; and a control unit configured to control a timing to end the accumulation of the charges in the photoelectric conversion unit based on the comparison result, in which the reference voltage to be compared with the output voltage based on the charges transferred from the photoelectric conversion unit to the charge accumulation unit when the charge transfer unit is in a non-conductive state, is a voltage corresponding to charges accumulated in the charge accumulation unit due to a dark current.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A photoelectric conversion apparatus, comprising:
a pixel unit including a plurality of pixels,
each of the plurality of pixels comprising:
a photoelectric conversion unit configured to generate charges corresponding to incident light;
a charge transfer unit configured to transfer the charges generated in the photoelectric conversion unit to a charge accumulation unit; and
an amplification unit configured to output an output voltage corresponding to the charges accumulated in the charge accumulation unit;

a reference voltage generation unit configured to generate a reference voltage; a comparison unit configured to output a comparison result by comparing the output voltage from the amplification unit and the reference voltage output from the reference voltage generation unit; and a control unit configured to control a timing to end the accumulation of the charges in the photoelectric conversion unit based on the comparison result, wherein the reference voltage to be compared with the output voltage based on the charges transferred from the photoelectric conversion unit to the charge accumulation unit when the charge transfer unit is in a non-conductive state, is a voltage corresponding to charges accumulated in the charge accumulation unit due to a dark current.

2 . The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the reference voltage is configured to change with respect to accumulation time of the charges in the photoelectric conversion unit.

3 . The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the reference voltage is configured to change linearly with respect to the accumulation time of the charges in the photoelectric conversion unit.

4 . The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein a slope of the change of the reference voltage with respect to the accumulation time corresponds to a slope of a change with respect to time of the output voltage of the amplification unit generated by the charges accumulated in the charge accumulation unit due to the dark current.

5 . The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the photoelectric conversion apparatus comprises a plurality of pixel units, and wherein the reference voltage input to the comparison unit included in each of the plurality of pixel units is different for each of the plurality of pixel units.

6 . The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the reference voltage input to the comparison unit included in each of the plurality of pixel units is different depending on a distance between each of the plurality of pixel units and the control unit.

7 . The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a slope of a change of the reference voltage with respect to accumulation time of the charges in the photoelectric conversion unit is configured to change depending on a temperature of the photoelectric conversion apparatus.

8 . The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the reference voltage generation unit is an invalid pixel in which the charges corresponding to incident light are not generated, and wherein the reference voltage is a voltage corresponding to the charges accumulated in the charge accumulation unit of the invalid pixel due to the dark current.

9 . The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the invalid pixel comprises an optical black pixel in which the photoelectric conversion unit is shielded from light.

10 . The photoelectric conversion apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the invalid pixel comprises a dummy pixel without the photoelectric conversion unit.

11 . An imaging system, comprising:
a focus detection unit comprising:
a pixel unit including a plurality of pixels,
each of the plurality of pixels comprising:
a photoelectric conversion unit configured to generate charges corresponding to incident light;
a charge transfer unit configured to transfer the charges generated in the photoelectric conversion unit to a charge accumulation unit; and
an amplification unit configured to output an output voltage corresponding to the charges accumulated in the charge accumulation unit;

a reference voltage generation unit configured to generate a reference voltage;
a comparison unit configured to output a comparison result by comparing the output voltage from the amplification unit and the reference voltage output from the reference voltage generation unit; and
a control unit configured to control a timing to end the accumulation of the charges in the photoelectric conversion unit based on the comparison result,
wherein the reference voltage to be compared with the output voltage based on the charges transferred from the photoelectric conversion unit to the charge accumulation unit when the charge transfer unit is in a non-conductive state, is a voltage corresponding to charges accumulated in the charge accumulation unit due to a dark current; and
an imaging unit configured to obtain an optical image of an object.

12 . A driving method for a photoelectric conversion apparatus,
the photoelectric conversion apparatus comprising: a pixel unit including a plurality of pixels,
each of the plurality of pixels comprising:
a photoelectric conversion unit configured to generate charges corresponding to incident light;
a charge transfer unit configured to transfer the charges generated in the photoelectric conversion unit to a charge accumulation unit; and
an amplification unit configured to output an output voltage corresponding to the charges accumulated in the charge accumulation unit; and

a comparison unit configured to output a comparison result by comparing the output voltage from the amplification unit and a reference voltage, the driving method comprising: outputting, by the comparison unit, the comparison result obtained by comparing the output voltage based on the charges transferred from the photoelectric conversion unit to the charge accumulation unit when the charge transfer unit is in a non-conductive state, and the reference voltage, which is a voltage corresponding to charges accumulated in the charge accumulation unit due to a dark current; and ending the accumulation of the charges in the photoelectric conversion unit based on the comparison result.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Kususaki Tomoki

Classifications

• H04N25/76

  Addressed sensors, e.g. MOS or CMOS sensors · CPC title

• H04N25/633

  by using optical black pixels · CPC title

• G01J1/4209 Primary

  Photoelectric exposure meters for determining the exposure time in recording or reproducing · CPC title

• G01J1/44

  Electric circuits {(for command of an exposure part G03B7/02)} · CPC title

• G03B13/36 Primary

  Autofocus systems · CPC title