BRILLNICS SINGAPORE PTE. LTD.

Provided are a solid-state imaging device, a method for driving a solid-state imaging device, and an electronic apparatus capable of providing characteristics of high gain and low noise as much as possible in a configuration that can detect stored signals during the integration period. A pixel includes a first transient gate PG formed between a floating diffusion FD and a photodiode PD and capable of controlling a charge transfer path CTP between the FD and the PD. The FD and the PD are coupled by the first transient gate PG, and photocharges generated by the PD are transferred immediately to the FD.

A pixel is formed by a photoelectric conversion film that converts light into a photogenerated current and a semiconductor pixel circuit. The photoelectric conversion film and the semiconductor pixel circuit are stacked and electrically coupled within the pixel. The photoelectric conversion film has an infrared NIR sensitivity. The semiconductor pixel circuit includes a pixel analog circuit that detects the photoelectric conversion current, a sample-and-hold circuit, an ADC, in-pixel logic, digital memory and the like.

Provided are a solid-state imaging device, a method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging device and an electronic apparatus that are capable of achieving maximized photo-responsiveness, ensuring low optical SNR in addition to reproducibility, and further reducing the pixel size, thereby efficiently improving performance factors such as the dynamic range, responsiveness, and resolution. Large-sized microlenses ML are allocated to color filters having high transparency (W), and small-sized microlenses ML are allocated to color filters having low transparency (B, R). The microlenses ML are non-uniform. The color filters underlying the large-sized microlenses ML need to be made from a highly transparent material.

In a pixel signal processing part, a first input switch and an output switch are turned on and off in phase. When the first input switch and the output switch are ON and the second input switch is OFF, a first auto-zero switch and a second auto-zero switch are kept in the ON state to connect the second node to the reference potential (GND), so that a sampling capacitor, a feedback capacitor, and an auto-zero capacitor are operated in respective operation ranges of the capacitors, and the feedback capacitor is kept constant according to a difference of the input pixel signals, thereby making the output of the amplifier in linear response to the input signal.

Provided are a solid-state imaging device, a method for driving a solid-state imaging device and an electronic apparatus. A reading part controls an output node, a first storage node and a second storage node such that the output node, the first storage node and the second storage node are coupled with each other to perform reading of an overflow charge signal, and controls the output node and the second storage node such that the output node and the second storage node are separated from each other to perform reading of a stored charge signal. A sequence of operations to read the pixel signal is performed such that the reading of the overflow charge signal takes place prior to the reading of the stored charge signal without charge mixing at the output node.

Provided are a solid-state imaging device, a method for driving a solid-state imaging device and an electronic apparatus capable not only of having advanced global shutter and autofocus functions but also of sufficiently achieving single exposure high dynamic range (SEHDR) performance, thereby substantially realizing enhanced dynamic range and frame rate. In an image capturing mode, a reading part controls driving of a conversion signal reading part such that the conversion signal reading part keeps first and second transfer transistors in a conduction state in the same transfer period and performs a read-out operation on a pixel signal corresponding to a sum of charges stored in a first photodiode and charges stored in a second photodiode with a first conversion gain and subsequently with a second conversion gain.

A source follower element is adjacent to a first lateral part of a floating diffusion in a first direction orthogonal to the first lateral part, a reset element is adjacent to a second lateral part of the floating diffusion in the first direction, and the floating diffusion and the source follower element are connected through a wiring. Some of the photoelectric conversion elements are adjacent to each other in a second direction and spaced away from each other with a first spacing therebetween that allows at least the source follower element and the reset element to be formed therein. Some of the photoelectric conversion elements are adjacent to each other in the first direction and spaced away from each other with a second spacing therebetween that is less than the first spacing.

One object of the present invention is to provide a solid-state imaging device, a method for fabricating a solid-state imaging device, and an electronic apparatus that implement both a wide dynamic range and a high sensitivity. A storage capacitor serving as a storage capacitance element includes a first electrode and a second electrode on a second substrate surface side. The first electrode is formed of a p+ region (the second conductivity type semiconductor region) formed in the surface of a second substrate surface of a substrate, and the second electrode is formed above the second substrate surface so as to be opposed at a distance to the first electrode in the direction perpendicular to the substrate surface. The first electrode and the second electrode are arranged so as to spatially overlap with a photoelectric conversion part in the direction perpendicular to the substrate surface.

Provided are a solid-state imaging device, a method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging device and an electronic apparatus that are capable of achieving maximized photo-responsiveness, ensuring low optical SNR in addition to reproducibility, and further reducing the pixel size, thereby efficiently improving important performance factors such as the dynamic range, responsiveness, and resolution. The charges integrated in a first photoelectric conversion element are stored in a storage node, and charges overflowing from the first photoelectric conversion element are stored in a floating diffusion. The charges integrated in a second photoelectric conversion element are stored in a storage node, and charges overflowing from the second photoelectric conversion element are discharged to the region that is not occupied by the floating diffusion.

A pixel circuit 200 includes a readable pixel 210 , a comparator 220 , and a selector counter circuit 230 . The readable pixel 210 performs photoelectric conversion at a photodiode PD 11 and produces a readable signal corresponding to an illuminance condition of incident light. The readable pixel 210 includes an overflow path extending to a floating diffusion FD 11 . The comparator 220 compares a voltage signal (SFout) read out from the readable pixel 210 against a reference signal Vref and outputs a comparison result signal Vout indicating the result of the comparison. The selector counter circuit 230 includes a selector circuit for selecting an external clock or the output Vout from the comparator and a counter circuit for counting the output from the selector circuit.