Image sensor and computing system having the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9264633-B2
Application number	US-201414221692-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2014
Priority date	Apr 22, 2013
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

An image sensor includes a light-electron conversion unit, a signal generation unit, and a selection unit. The light-electron conversion unit generates photo-charges from incident light. The signal generation unit accumulates photo-charges from the converter in a storage node during a detection period, and then generates a first analog signal and a second analog signal during an output period. The analog signals are generated based on an amount of photo-charges accumulated in the storage node. The selection unit generates an image signal based on one of the first analog signal and the second analog signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image sensor, comprising:
a light-electron converter to generate photo-charges from incident light;
a signal generator to accumulate the photo-charges from the light-electron converter in a storage node during a detection period, and to generate a first analog signal and a second analog signal based on a first transmission control signal and a second transmission control signal, respectively, during an output period; and
a selector to generate an image signal based on one of the first analog signal or the second analog signal, wherein the first analog signal and the second analog signal are generated based on an amount of the photo-charges accumulated in the storage node and wherein the second transmission control signal is applied after the first transmission control signal in non-overlapping periods during the output period.

2. The image sensor as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:
the first transmission control signal is at first voltage, and
the second transmission control signal is at a second voltage greater than the first voltage.

3. The image sensor as claimed in claim 2 , wherein:
the signal generator is to generate the first analog signal based on a partial amount of the photo-charges accumulated in the storage node in response to the first transmission control signal, and
the signal generator is to generate the second analog signal based on a total amount of the photo-charges accumulated in the storage node in response to the second transmission control signal.

4. The image sensor as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the selector is to output:
the second analog signal as the image signal when the second analog signal is smaller than or equal to a reference signal, and
a sum of the first analog signal and an offset signal as the image signal when the second analog signal is greater than the reference signal.

5. The image sensor as claimed in claim 4 , wherein a magnitude of the offset signal corresponds to a magnitude of the second analog signal at a time when the first analog signal starts to increase as an intensity of the incident light increases.

6. The image sensor as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the selector includes:
a first latch to latch the first analog signal in response to a first latch control signal;
a second latch to latch the second analog signal in response to a second latch control signal;
a summer to generate a sum signal by adding an output signal of the first latch and an offset signal;
a comparator to generate a comparison signal having a first logic level when an output signal of the second latch is less than or equal to a reference signal, and to generate the comparison signal having a second logic level when the output signal of the second latch is greater than the reference signal; and
a multiplexer to output the output signal of the second latch as the image signal when the comparison signal has the first logic level, and to output the sum signal as the image signal when the comparison signal has the second logic level.

7. The image sensor as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the selector outputs:
the second analog signal as the image signal when the second analog signal is less than or equal to a sum of the first analog signal and an offset signal, and
the sum of the first analog signal and the offset signal as the image signal when the second analog signal is greater than the sum of the first analog signal and the offset signal.

8. The image sensor as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the selector includes:
a first latch to latch the first analog signal in response to a first latch control signal;
a second latch to latch the second analog signal in response to a second latch control signal;
a summer to generate a sum signal by adding an output signal of the first latch and an offset signal; and
a multiplexer to output a smaller of an output signal of the second latch and the sum signal as the image signal.

9. The image sensor as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the signal generator includes:
a transmission transistor including a source coupled to the storage node, a drain coupled to a floating diffusion node, and a gate coupled to receive the first transmission control signal and the second transmission control signal;
a reset transistor including a source coupled to the floating diffusion node, a drain coupled to a supply voltage, and a gate receiving a reset control signal;
a sensing transistor including a source, a drain coupled to the supply voltage, and a gate coupled to the floating diffusion node; and
a row selection transistor including a drain coupled to the source of the sensing transistor, a gate receiving a row selection signal, and a source outputting the first analog signal and the second analog signal.

10. The image sensor as claimed in claim 9 , wherein:
the reset control signal is activated and the reset transistor is turned on to reset the floating diffusion node, the floating diffusion node reset by discharging the photo-charges stored in the floating diffusion node to the supply voltage during the detection period, and the reset control signal is deactivated and the reset transistor is turned off during the output period.

11. The image sensor as claimed in claim 9 , wherein, during the output period, the transmission transistor turns on at a first strength in response to the first transmission control signal to transfer a portion of the photo-charges accumulated in the storage node to the floating diffusion node, and wherein the transmission transistor turns on at a second strength in response to the second transmission control signal to transfer a remaining portion of the photo-charges in the storage node to the floating diffusion node, and wherein the second strength is greater than the first strength.

12. The image sensor as claimed in claim 11 , wherein, during the output period, the sensing transistor generates an output signal based on a voltage of the floating diffusion node and the row selection transistor turns on in response to the row selection signal to pass the output signal.

13. The image sensor as claimed in claim 11 , wherein:
the row selection transistor turns on during the output period to output the first analog signal having a magnitude corresponding to an amount of the photo-charges stored in the floating diffusion node after the first transmission control signal is activated, and
the row selection transistor outputs the second analog signal having a magnitude corresponding to an amount of the photo-charges stored in the floating diffusion node after the second transmission control signal is activated.

14. The image sensor as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
an analog-to-digital converter to convert the image signal to a digital signal; and
a controller to control operations of the signal generator, the selector, and the analog-to-digital converter.

15. A computing system, comprising:
an image sensor to generate a digital signal based on incident light;
a storage area to store the digital signal; and
a processor to control operations of the image sensor and storage area, wherein the image sensor includes:
a light-electron converter to generate photo-charges in response to the incident light;
a signal generator to accumulate the photo-charges generated from the light-electron converter in a storage node during a detection period, and to generate a first analog signal and a second analog signal in response to a first transmission control signal and a second transmission control signal, respectively, during an output period;
a selector to generate an image signal based on one of the

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Bae Hyung-Jin
• Yang Kyoung-Hoon
• Lee Ji-Won
• Shim Eun-Sub
• Lim Moo-Sup

Classifications

• H04N25/581 Primary

  acquired simultaneously · CPC title

• H04N25/67 Primary

  applied to fixed-pattern noise, e.g. non-uniformity of response · CPC title

• H04N25/57 Primary

  Control of the dynamic range · CPC title

• H04N25/583

  with different integration times · CPC title

• H04N5/35545

  Electricity · mapped topic