| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20080211943 | SOLID-STATE IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE - In a pixel unit, cells are arranged in rows and columns two-dimensionally. Each of the cells accumulates signal charge obtained by photoelectrically converting light incident on photoelectric conversion section and outputs a voltage corresponding to the accumulated signal charge. On the cells, W, R, G, and B color filters are provided. Analog signals output from the W pixel, R pixel, G pixel, and B pixel are converted into digital signals by an analog/digital converter circuit, which outputs a W signal, an R signal, a G signal, and a B signal separately. A W signal saturated signal quantity is controlled by a saturated signal quantity control circuit. Then, a signal generator circuit corrects the R signal, the G signal, and the B signal using the W signal, the R signal, the G signal, and B signal output from the analog/digital converter circuit and outputs the corrected R, G, and B signals. | 09-04-2008 |
| 20080267040 | TWO-DIMENSIONAL DIGITAL DATA ACQUISITION ELEMENT AND HOLOGRAPHIC STORAGE APPARATUS - A two-dimensional digital data acquisition element includes: a pixel area having a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix form, each of the pixels having a photoelectric conversion element to convert the reproduced light from the optical information recording medium to an electric signal; selection circuits which select the pixel; a readout circuit which reads out an electric signal of a pixel selected by the selection circuits; and a 1-bit AD converter which converts an output of the readout circuit to 1-bit digital data. A pitch ratio N between a pitch P1 of the unit data areas in the two-dimensional digital image information and a pitch P | 10-30-2008 |
| 20090027534 | IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE - An image pickup device has a signal processing part configured to perform signal process for the first to third color signals. The signal processing part includes a first color generator configured to generate a fourth color signal corresponding to a reference pixel based on a ratio between a second color signal at a pixel located in vicinity of the reference pixel and a first color signal at a pixel located in vicinity of the reference pixel, a second color generator configured to generate a fifth color signal corresponding to the reference pixel based on a ratio between a third color signal at a pixel located in vicinity of the reference pixel and the first color signal at a pixel located in vicinity of the reference pixel, and a image quality converter configured to generate color signals by performing a predetermined image process based on the first to fifth color signals. | 01-29-2009 |
| 20090095909 | BOLOMETER TYPE UNCOOLED INFRARED RAY SENSOR AND METHOD FOR DRIVING THE SAME - A bolometer type uncooled infrared ray sensor includes: an image pickup region having detection pixels arranged in a matrix form on a semiconductor substrate to detect incident infrared rays; a plurality of row selection lines provided in the image pickup region; current sources capable of letting constant currents flow through the respective row selection lines; a plurality of signal lines provided in the image pickup region; voltage readout circuits provided so as to respectively correspond to the signal lines to read out signal voltages generated on the respectively corresponding signal lines; coupling capacitances respectively provided between the respective signal lines and the corresponding voltage readout circuits; and a calculator which calculates a difference between two signal voltages read out by the voltage readout circuits, corresponding to outputs of the same detection pixel for two different current values supplied from the current sources. | 04-16-2009 |
| 20090236526 | INFRARED RAY SENSOR ELEMENT - An infrared ray sensor element includes: a first signal wiring part including a first signal wire and provided on a first region of a semiconductor substrate different from a region on which a concave part is provided; a second signal wiring part including a second signal wire and provided on the first region so as to intersect the first signal wiring part; a supporter including a support wiring part disposed over the concave part, and including a first wire electrically connected at a first end thereof to the first signal wire, and a second wire insulated from the first wire, disposed in parallel with the first wire, and electrically connected at a first end thereof to the second signal wire; a thermoelectric transducer electrically connected to second ends of the first and second wires; an infrared ray absorption layer provided over the thermoelectric transducer; and a detection cell provided over the concave part. | 09-24-2009 |
| 20090242951 | SOLID-STATE IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE - A solid-state image pickup device has a photoelectric conversion element that converts light incident from a first surface of a substrate into a signal charge and accumulates the signal charge, a transistor that is formed on a second surface side opposite to the first surface of the substrate and reads out the signal charge accumulated by the photoelectric conversion element, a supporting substrate stuck to the second surface of the substrate, and an antireflection coating formed on the first surface of the substrate, wherein the first surface of the substrate includes a curved surface or an inclined surface forming a prescribed angle to the second surface. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090266987 | INFRARED DETECTOR AND SOLID STATE IMAGE SENSOR HAVING THE SAME - An infrared detector includes: a readout wiring portion provided on a semiconductor substrate; a support structure portion disposed over a concave portion formed in a surface portion of the semiconductor substrate, the support structure portion having connection wiring connected electrically to the readout wiring portion; and a cell portion disposed over the concave portion and supported by the support structure portion. The cell portion includes: an infrared absorption layer absorbing incident infrared rays; and a plurality of thermoelectric conversion elements connected electrically to the support structure portion and insulated electrically from the infrared absorption layer to generate an electric signal by detecting a temperature change of the cell portion, each of the thermoelectric conversion elements includes a semiconductor layer, a p-type silicon layer and an n-type silicon layer formed with a space between them in the semiconductor layer, and a polysilicon layer formed on the semiconductor layer between the p-type silicon layer and the n-type silicon layer. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20100025584 | IMAGE SENSOR AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF - An image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate; first pixels laid out above cavities provided within the semiconductor substrate, the first pixels converting thermal energy generated by incident light into an electric signal; supporting parts connected between the first pixels and the semiconductor substrate, the supporting parts supporting the first pixels above the cavities; and second pixels fixedly provided on the semiconductor substrate without via the cavities, wherein a plurality of the first pixels and a plurality of the second pixels are laid out two-dimensionally to form a pixel region, and each of the second pixels is adjacent to the first pixels. | 02-04-2010 |
| 20100230594 | INFRARED SOLID-STATE IMAGE SENSOR - An infrared solid-state image sensor comprises: a pixel area comprising a sensitive pixel area where infrared detection pixels are arranged in a matrix form to detect incident infrared rays on the semiconductor substrate and a reference pixel area where reference pixels are provided, each of the infrared detection pixels comprising a thermoelectric conversion part, the thermoelectric conversion part comprising an infrared absorption film to absorb the incident infrared rays and convert the incident infrared rays to heat and a first thermoelectric conversion element to convert the heat obtained by the conversion in the infrared absorption film to a electric signal, each of the reference pixels comprising a second thermoelectric conversion element. Each of first ends of the reference pixels are connected to a reference potential line, and a difference between the signal potential read out from a corresponding signal line and a reference potential supplied from the reference potential line is amplified and outputted. | 09-16-2010 |
