JP3498775B2 - Imaging device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup device ,
In particular, the present invention relates to an imaging device that captures an image, such as a video camera, which can be made smaller and lighter and can be provided at a low price .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 54 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional video camera. This video camera is composed of a lens module 101 and a camera body 111.
Further, the lens module 101 includes the focus lens 1
04 is included in the image forming lens 102 and the iris adjusting mechanism 103, and the camera body 111 is an optical LPF.
(Low-pass filter) 112, image sensor 113,
And a camera processing circuit 114.

The light from the subject incident on the imaging lens 102 is iris adjusting mechanism 103 and optical LPF 1.
The light is emitted to the image sensor 113 via 12, and an image of the subject is formed on the light receiving surface of the image sensor 113. The image sensor 113 is, for example, a charge coupled device (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as a CCD),
The light as an image of the subject received by the light receiving surface is photoelectrically converted, and an image signal corresponding to the obtained subject is converted into
It is output to the camera processing circuit 114. Camera processing circuit 11
In 4, the image signal from the image sensor 113 is
Predetermined signal processing is performed and then recorded on a recording medium such as a video tape, output to a monitor or the like for display, or supplied to a computer or the like to perform predetermined processing. To be done.

A drive signal is supplied from the camera processing circuit 114 to the image sensor 113, and the image sensor 113 performs predetermined processing such as output of an image signal in accordance with the drive signal. . Further, the iris adjusting mechanism 103 adjusts the brightness of the image formed on the image sensor 113, and
The peripheral light rays emitted from the imaging lens 102 and unnecessary for image formation are blocked. Further, the focus lens 104 is adapted to adjust the focus of the image formed on the image sensor 113. Also,
The optical LPF 112 is an optical element having a different refractive index depending on the plane of polarization of light incident thereon, and is made of, for example, crystalline quartz having optical anisotropy, and the focus lens 1
The high frequency component of the spatial frequency of the light from 04 is suppressed, and thereby the aliasing distortion generated in the image sensor 113 is reduced.

By the way, when a video camera is used, for example, for inputting an image to a computer or for monitoring an automobile, or a so-called video telephone,
When it is applied to a video conference system or the like, it is not often required that the image obtained from the video camera has high image quality. That is, a video camera that is easy to incorporate and handle even if the image quality is not so high is usually required.

[0006] However, conventionally, if it is attempted to be easily assembled and handled, optical adjustment is required at the time of manufacturing, which complicates the manufacturing process, increases the size of the apparatus, and increases the cost thereof.

Further, in the conventional video camera, the optical LPF 112 is required as shown in FIG. 54 in order to limit the spatial frequency of the light incident on the image sensor 113, but this thickness d is equal to that of the image sensor 113. It was necessary to make the thickness proportional to the pixel pitch. Therefore, when the image sensor 113 having a small pixel pitch is used, the price of the image sensor 113 becomes high, and when the image sensor 113 having a large pixel pitch is used, the optical LPF 112 having a large thickness d is used. It is necessary to provide it, and the device becomes large.

Therefore, a video camera having a structure as shown in FIG. 55, for example, is known as a video camera which is smaller and less expensive. In this example, the CCD image sensor 403 is fixed on the substrate 404. Further, one imaging lens 401 is fixed to the lens barrel 402, and this lens barrel 402 is fixed to the substrate 404. Various components 405 are attached to the back side of the substrate 404.

Incidentally, in the example of FIG. 55, the structure of the adjusting mechanism for adjusting the light quantity and the like are omitted.

The CCD image pickup device 403 here is constructed as shown in FIG. That is, the CCD image pickup device 403 includes a CCD bare chip 403A that photoelectrically converts the input light. This CCD bare chip 40
3A has a color filter (not shown) on its light incident surface side that allows only light of wavelengths of predetermined colors of R, G, B (which may be complementary colors) to pass through. CCD bare chip 4
03A is a package 403 made of plastic or the like
It is housed inside B and at the top of package 403B,
A cover glass 403C is arranged.

[0011]

However, as shown in FIG.
In the configuration example shown in, the distance from the upper end of the imaging lens 401 to the upper surface of the CCD image pickup device 403 is about 30 m.
m, the thickness of the CCD image sensor 403 is 5 mm, and the distance from the upper surface of the substrate 404 to the lower end of the component 405 is 15 mm.
The total is about 50 mm.

Therefore, there is a problem that the structure shown in FIG. 55 cannot be incorporated in a PC card or the like and used in a portable personal computer or the like.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a small-sized and lightweight device which is easy to assemble and handle and can be provided at a low price.

[0014]

A first image pickup device of the present invention has at least one image forming lens for forming an image of light, has a diaphragm effect of cutting off peripheral light rays, and blocks external light. An image pickup apparatus comprising: an outer holder and a substrate having at least a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts light formed by an imaging lens and outputs an image signal,
The holder and the substrate are integrated, and the holder and the imaging lens
It is characterized in that a predetermined gap is formed between them.

The second image pickup device of the present invention forms an image of light.
Marginal ray provided with at least one imaging lens
It has a diaphragm effect that blocks light and blocks the exterior holder that blocks external light.
And at least the light imaged by the imaging lens
A photoelectric conversion element that converts electricity and outputs an image signal is installed.
An image pickup device including a substrate,
The transparent material that is integrated and constitutes the imaging lens
A special feature is that it is a molded light-shielding film that blocks side rays.
To collect.

The third image pickup device of the present invention forms an image of light.
Marginal ray provided with at least one imaging lens
It has a diaphragm effect that blocks light and blocks the exterior holder that blocks external light.
And at least the light imaged by the imaging lens
A photoelectric conversion element that converts electricity and outputs an image signal is installed.
An image pickup device including a substrate,
The transparent material that is integrated and constitutes the imaging lens
It is characterized by being covered with a sheet that blocks side rays.
To collect.

The fourth image pickup device of the present invention forms an image of light.
Marginal ray provided with at least one imaging lens
It has a diaphragm effect that blocks light and blocks the exterior holder that blocks external light.
And at least the light imaged by the imaging lens
A photoelectric conversion element that converts electricity and outputs an image signal is installed.
And a substrate, wherein the holder and the substrate are
Integrated photoelectric conversion element of imaging lens for point light source
The half-value width of the response on the child is the pixel pitch of the photoelectric conversion element.
The imaging lens has a certain spherical aberration so that
And the photoelectric conversion element is at the focus position of the imaging lens.
The feature is that it is placed at a position that is offset by a predetermined distance from
To collect.

A fifth image pickup device of the present invention forms an image of light.
Marginal ray provided with at least one imaging lens
It has a diaphragm effect that blocks light and blocks the exterior holder that blocks external light.
And at least the light imaged by the imaging lens
A photoelectric conversion element that converts electricity and outputs an image signal is installed.
An image pickup device including a substrate,
The photoelectric conversion element is integrated and its imaging surface is
Is placed in the middle of the curved image surface due to
Is the intersection of the curved image surface formed by the imaging lens and the imaging surface.
To get a certain amount of defocus in
It is characterized by

The sixth image pickup device of the present invention forms an image of light.
Marginal ray provided with at least one imaging lens
It has a diaphragm effect that blocks light and blocks the exterior holder that blocks external light.
And at least the light imaged by the imaging lens
A photoelectric conversion element that converts electricity and outputs an image signal is installed.
An image pickup device including a substrate,
Integrated, the imaging lens has a discontinuous surface on the centerline.
It is characterized by doing.

The seventh imaging device of the present invention, at least one imaging lens Ru is imaged light <br/> is provided, having a throttling effect of blocking peripheral rays, blocking the outside light An external holder and at least a substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts the light imaged by the imaging lens and outputs an image signal is mounted, and the holder and the substrate are integrated,
The imaging lens constitutes a lens portion made of a transparent material together with the leg portion, and the leg portion is characterized in that the cutout portion is fitted to the four corner portions of the photoelectric conversion element.

The eighth imaging device of the present invention, at least one imaging lens Ru is imaged light <br/> is provided a holder for blocking the external light, even without, imaging by the imaging lens And a substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts the imaged light and outputs an image signal is mounted, the imaging lens is formed in a part of the holder, and the holder and the substrate are integrated. One of the opposing leg portions is characterized in that the cutout portion is fitted to the two side portions of the photoelectric conversion portion.

The image pickup adapter of the present invention can be applied to an information processing device.
A detachably mounted housing and an imaging device housed in the housing
And an image pickup device is provided with an image forming unit for forming an image of light.
With a lens, it has an iris effect to block peripheral rays.
The external holder that blocks external light and the imaging lens
A photoelectric converter that photoelectrically converts the imaged light and outputs an image signal
A replacement element is attached, and a substrate integrated with the holder is provided.
It is characterized by

The information processing apparatus of the present invention is housed in a housing.
Image pickup device, and the image pickup device includes one
A diaphragm effect with an imaging lens to block ambient light
With an external holder that blocks external light and an imaging lens.
Light that photoelectrically converts the imaged light and outputs an image signal
The substrate with the electric conversion element attached and integrated with the holder
The information processing device to which the equipped imaging adapter device is attached
A capturing means for capturing an image signal from the image pickup device,
A processor for processing the image signal captured by the capturing means
And a step.

The information processing method of the present invention is housed in a housing.
Image pickup device, and the image pickup device includes one
A diaphragm effect with an imaging lens to block ambient light
With an external holder that blocks external light and an imaging lens.
Light that photoelectrically converts the imaged light and outputs an image signal
The substrate with the electric conversion element attached and integrated with the holder
Information of the information processing device to which the equipped imaging adapter device is attached
In the information processing method, capture the image signal from the imaging device
And the step of processing the captured image signal.
Is provided.

In the first image pickup apparatus of the present invention, the hold
The da has an iris effect whose exterior shields ambient rays,
It is designed to block outside light, and to block light there.
At least one imaging lens is provided for imaging
It An image is formed on the substrate by at least the imaging lens.
Photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts the generated light and outputs an image signal
It is installed. And, these holder and substrate are
It is embodied. In addition, between the holder and the imaging lens
A predetermined gap is formed.

In the second image pickup apparatus of the present invention, the hold
The peripheral light rays on the transparent material that constitutes the imaging lens.
It is said that a light-shielding film that blocks the light is formed.

In the third image pickup apparatus of the present invention, the hold
The peripheral light rays on the transparent material that constitutes the imaging lens.
It is said that it is covered with a sheet for blocking. The present invention
In the fourth image pickup device, the image forming lens for the point light source is used.
The half-width of the response on the photoelectric conversion element
Imaging lens so that it is larger than the pixel pitch of the replacement element
Has a predetermined spherical aberration, and the photoelectric conversion element
It is placed at a position that is deviated from the focusing position of the lens by a predetermined distance.
Has been.

In the fifth image pickup device of the present invention,
The image pickup surface of the conversion element is curved by the imaging lens.
It is placed in the middle of the image plane and the imaging lens is
A certain amount of data at the intersection of the curved image plane and the imaging plane.
It is designed to gain focus. The present invention
In the imaging device of No. 6, the imaging lens is not on the center line.
It is designed to have a continuous surface.

In the seventh image pickup device of the present invention, an image is formed.
As a lens part made of transparent material with the legs
The leg notch has four corners of the photoelectric conversion element.
Is fitted to the minute. In the eighth imaging device of the present invention
Is the photoelectric conversion of the notch on one of the opposing legs of the holder.
It is fitted to the two sides of the replacement part.

In the image pick-up adapter device of the present invention, the image pick-up device is housed in the housing, and the image pick-up device has a holder having an imaging lens and a diaphragm integrated with the substrate on which the photoelectric conversion element is mounted. There is.

In the information processing apparatus and method of the present invention, the image signal output from the photoelectric conversion element of the image pickup device housed in the housing is captured and processed.

[0032]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of a first embodiment of an image pickup apparatus to which the present invention is applied. This imaging device is configured by mounting (fitting) the holder 2 on the substrate 1 to integrate them. As described below with reference to FIG. 3, the substrate 1 serves as a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts at least the light imaged by the imaging lens 4 provided in the holder 2 and outputs an image signal. , For example, the CCD bare chip 12 is mounted. Further, the holder 2 is provided with one image forming lens 4 for forming an image of light, and the exterior thereof has an image forming lens 4
The package 2A has a diaphragm effect of blocking the peripheral light rays so that the peripheral light rays do not enter and further shields the external light. The package 2A is provided with a circular hole (diaphragm) 3 for allowing light from a subject to enter the imaging lens 4. Further, in this embodiment, the hole 3 is provided in the upper portion of the package 2A, substantially in the center, and functions as a fixed iris.

Next, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the image pickup apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA ′ in FIG.
2 is a cross-sectional view of a portion indicated by a cross-section line in FIG. As described above, the CCD bare chip 12 is mounted on the substrate 1, the driver 13 for driving the CCD bare chip 12, the A / D converter 14 for A / D converting the output of the CCD bare chip 12, and the like. The necessary chips are attached (details will be described later with reference to FIG. 18). It should be noted that the CCD bare chip 12 is mounted at a position facing the hole 3 provided in the holder 2 when the holder 2 is mounted on the substrate 1. However, due to the design of the substrate 1, C
When the mounting position of the CD bare chip 12 is restricted,
The mounting position of the CCD bare chip 12 may be determined first, and then the hole 3 may be provided at a position facing the CCD bare chip 12.

Further, on the side surface of the substrate 1, a signal is output to and output from the outside (for example, C
Leads 5 are provided for taking out an image signal output from the CD bare chip 12 and subjected to a predetermined process, or for supplying power to each chip mounted on the substrate 1). In addition, in FIG.
Are not shown.

The chips mounted on the substrate 1 are connected by connecting lines as required. In FIG. 3, only the connecting line 13A drawn from the driver 13 is shown, and the connecting lines drawn from the other chips are omitted because the drawing becomes complicated.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the CCD bare chip 12. In this embodiment, the CCD bare chip 12 outputs C which outputs an electric signal corresponding to the input light.
CD device (charge coupled device) 12A and CCD device 12A
It is composed of a color filter 12B which is formed on the upper side and passes light of a predetermined wavelength such as R, G, B (which may be complementary colors). However, the color filter 12B may be omitted.

As is clear from comparison between the CCD bare chip 12 shown in FIG. 4 and the CCD image pickup device 403 shown in FIG. 56, the CCD bare chip 1 shown in FIG.
2, the package 403B made of ceramic or plastic shown in FIG. 56 is omitted. Therefore, its size can be made smaller than that of the CCD image pickup device 403 shown in FIG.

The imaging lens 4 constitutes the lens portion 10 together with the leg portion 11. Here, FIG. 5 shows the lens unit 10.
3 is a perspective view showing a detailed configuration of FIG. The lens portion 10 is made of a transparent material, for example, transparent plastic (for example, PMMA), and has a so-called table shape such as a parallel plate provided with four legs. That is, the imaging lens 4 as a single lens is formed in the central portion of the parallel plate, and the four corners of the parallel plate further extend in the direction parallel to the optical axis of the imaging lens 4, for example, Four prismatic legs with a rectangular horizontal cross section 1
1 is provided. The corners of the lower portions of the four legs 11 that face the optical axis of the imaging lens 4 are hollowed into a prismatic shape, whereby the notch 1 is formed.
1A is formed. It should be noted that each of the four leg portions 11 is provided so that two of the four side surfaces (corner portions formed by the two side surfaces) face the optical axis of the imaging lens 4. There is.

The CCD bare chip 12 is, for example, a rectangular chip when viewed from the upper surface (imaging surface) thereof.
Each of the four notches 11A is a CCD bare chip 1
It is designed to fit into the two corners with high precision.

The lens portion 10 is made of plastic,
For example, it is configured by molding (therefore, the imaging lens 4 is a plastic molded single lens), and thus the relative accuracy of the size of each part of the lens unit 10 with respect to the principal point of the imaging lens 4. Is high enough.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lens portion 10 configured as described above is located inside the lid-shaped package 2A that constitutes the exterior of the holder 2 and at a position corresponding to the hole 3. Is fitted so that the optical axis of the imaging lens 4 passes through the center of the hole 3. Then, the four leg portions 11 of the lens unit 10 are fitted with the respective notches 11A into the four corner portions of the CCD bare chip 12 so that C
It is in direct contact with the CD bare chip 12.

Package 2A constituting the exterior of the holder 2
Is made of, for example, a polycarbonate resin as a light-shielding material, and is adhered to the substrate 1 by a light-shielding filler (adhesive) 20 as well, whereby the substrate 1 and the holder 2 are integrated. There is.

FIG. 6 shows the leg 11 and the CCD bare chip 12.
It is the enlarged view which expanded the cross section of the part which is in contact with (the enlarged view of the part Z enclosed with the dotted line in FIG. 3). As shown in the figure, with the lower end of the leg 11 slightly floating from the substrate 1, the bottom surface and side surface of the notch 11A are the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12 (the portion indicated by S1 in the figure) and its side surface. (The portion indicated by S2 in the figure) is in direct contact with a certain amount of pressure (hence, the leg portion 11 is in a state of being abutted against the CCD bare chip 12). It should be noted that this pressure is generated by fitting the holder 2 to the substrate 1 and then filling and filling the filler 20 with a predetermined pressure to bond and seal the substrate 1 and the holder 2. ing.

The size of the portion of the holder 2 to be fitted with the substrate 1 is somewhat larger than the outer shape of the substrate 1. Therefore, the legs 1 of the substrate 1 and the holder 2 contact the CCD bare chip 12 with their legs 11. It is glued in a form that prioritizes the precision of making it.

As described above, at least the substrate 1 on which the CCD bare chip 12 is mounted and the holder 2 of the exterior (package 2A) having the diaphragm effect and provided with the imaging lens 4 are integrated. When the imaging device is applied to, for example, a video conference system, no optical adjustment between the imaging lens 4 and the CCD bare chip 12 is required, and therefore, the assembly and the handling thereof are easy. As a result, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of a device using such an imaging device.

Further, as described above, the relative accuracy of the dimensions of each part of the lens portion 10 with respect to the principal point of the imaging lens 4 is sufficiently high, and the leg portion 11 (notch 11A) thereof is formed. Since the imaging lens 4 is directly abutted against the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12, no special adjustment is made so that the principal point of the imaging lens 4 satisfies a predetermined positional relationship with the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12. It is arranged with high accuracy. That is, the imaging lens 4 can be manufactured at low cost.
And it can be mounted with high precision. Further, in this case, since the adjusting mechanism for mounting the imaging lens 4 with high accuracy is not required, the size and weight of the image pickup apparatus can be reduced.

It is also possible to form a projection 11Aa on the surface of the notch 11A of the leg 11 that presses the image pickup surface of the CCD bare chip 12, and press the CCD bare chip 12 with this projection 11Aa. By forming the protrusion 11Aa into a hemispherical shape or a cylindrical shape, the contact between the CCD bare chip 12 and the leg portion 11 is theoretically made to be a point or a line, so that the CCD bare chip 12 and the leg portion 11 are in contact with each other. It is possible to reliably press the CCD bare chip 12 regardless of the accuracy of the surface.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG.
A tapered surface 11Ab may be formed in the notch 11A, and the edge of the upper end of the CCD bare chip 12 may be pressed by the tapered surface 11Ab. This way,
CC regardless of variations in the shape of the CCD bare chip 12
It is possible to reliably press the D bare chip 12.

Next, the optical characteristics of the imaging lens 4 and the dimensions (length) of the leg portion 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. As shown in FIG. 9A, the in-focus position (imaging plane) f1 of the imaging lens 4 is curved as shown by the broken line.
The light receiving surface (imaging surface) of the CCD bare chip 12 is
It is arranged at a position on an ideal image surface (a flat surface that does not curve) f2 which is in contact with the image forming surface f1 on the optical axis of the image forming lens 4 (so that the leg 11 of the leg portion 11 has such an arrangement relationship). The length is set).

However, if it is left as it is, the image is focused in the vicinity of the center of the image pickup surface (in the vicinity of the point where the image formation surface f1 and the ideal image surface f2 are in contact), but the farther from the center of the image pickup surface (in FIG. 9, The defocus amount from the focus position imaging surface (ideal image plane f2) of the image plane f1 increases as the distance from the contact point between the image plane f1 and the ideal image plane f2 increases in the vertical direction). That is, the central image on the imaging surface is a clear image with focus, while the peripheral image is a so-called out-of-focus image.

Therefore, the imaging lens 4 is designed so that spherical defocus is generated on the optical axis of the imaging lens 4 so that a uniform defocus amount can be obtained over the entire image pickup surface. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9 (A), originally (when spherical aberration does not occur), the light to be focused near the contact point between the image forming surface f1 and the ideal image surface f2 is, for example, , Will be focused at a farther position.
As a result, a so-called slightly out-of-focus state occurs even in the central portion of the image pickup surface, and eventually an image in a substantially uniform focus state is obtained on the entire image pickup surface.

That is, as a result, the full width at half maximum of the response of the imaging lens 4 to the point light source becomes as shown in FIG. 9 (B) and FIG.
As shown in (D), it is constant both in the central portion (FIG. 9B) on the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12 and in the peripheral portion (FIG. 9D), and It is designed to be larger than the pixel pitch.

Here, FIG. 9A or FIG.
FIG. 9B shows a state in which parallel rays are converged on the central portion or the peripheral portion of the CCD bare chip 12, respectively.
Alternatively, FIG. 9D shows the intensity of light (response to a point light source at infinity) on the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12 in the case shown in FIG. 9A or 9C. In the present embodiment, the half width w1 or w2 of the point light source response in the central portion or the peripheral portion of the CCD bare chip 12 is almost twice the pixel pitch of the CCD bare chip 12 (preferably 1.8 times to 3 times, for example). (About double) (the same applies to other positions on the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12). As a result, as the CCD bare chip 12, it is possible to use an element having a low pixel count of about 170,000 pixels, which has 360 pixels in the horizontal direction and 480 pixels in the vertical direction.

As described above, the half-value width of the point light source response is set to the CCD.
By making the pixel pitch of the bare chip 12 twice,
As shown in FIG. 10, the spatial frequency response characteristic of the imaging lens 4 is such a characteristic as to sufficiently suppress the incident component of the CCD bare chip 12 at the Nyquist limit spatial frequency fn or higher.
Therefore, conventionally, as described with reference to FIG. 52, the optical LPF 112 for reducing the aliasing distortion is required.
The image pickup apparatus of FIG. 1 can reduce aliasing distortion without providing such an optical element. as a result,
It is possible to reduce the size, weight and cost of the device.

In FIG. 9, the light near the optical axis is
The focusing lens 4 is focused in a direction away from the focusing lens 4 by a predetermined distance from the focusing surface f1 (ideal image plane f2) of the focusing lens 4. On the contrary, the focusing lens 4 is approached. It is also possible to focus in the direction.

In this embodiment, the imaging lens 4 has a short focal length (for example, about 4 mm), and the hole 3 which functions as a diaphragm is small (for example, its diameter is about 1.2 mm). Stuff). As a result, the depth of field becomes deep and the degree of blurring becomes small even if the distance to the subject changes. Further, this image pickup apparatus does not need to be provided with a focus mechanism such as a so-called autofocus mechanism, and in this respect as well, reduction in size, weight and cost of the apparatus is achieved. When the image pickup device is used for telephoto, an image forming lens 4 having a long focal length should be used.
The hole 3 may be made smaller.

The relationship between the image forming surface and the image pickup surface is summarized as shown in FIG. That is, the imaging lens 4
The image plane f1 of is curved with respect to the ideal image plane f2,
In the above embodiment, CC is placed on this ideal image plane f2.
The image pickup surface 203 of the D bare chip 12 is arranged.

However, in this case, the defocus amount in the peripheral portion becomes larger than that in the central portion of the image pickup surface 203. Therefore, as described above, the spherical aberration is generated in the central portion, so that the image pickup surface is generated. The whole image on 203 is made to be an image of uniform focus.

However, in the case of this embodiment, the defocus amount in the peripheral portion tends to be too large as compared with the central portion.

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, the image pickup surface 203 of the CCD bare chip 12 is arranged substantially at the center of the image forming surface f1 of the image forming lens 4 (center in the horizontal direction of FIG. 12). You can also By doing so, the defocus amounts at the peripheral portion and the central portion are opposite in direction, but their absolute values are substantially the same. However, in this case, the focus state in the vicinity of the point A where the imaging plane 203 and the image formation plane f1 intersect becomes better than the focus states at other positions. Therefore, in order to generate a large amount of aberration in the vicinity of this point A, the imaging lens 4
Can be designed to. By doing so, it is possible to obtain an image in a substantially uniform focused state on the entire imaging surface 203.

Next, according to the example shown in FIG.
03, conditions for obtaining a uniform image will be described in more detail.

Now, as shown in FIG. 13, the horizontal length (long side length) Lh of the effective pixel area of the CCD bare chip 12 is set to 2.0 mm, and the vertical length (short side length). ) If Lv is 1.5 mm, the diagonal length Ld is about 2.5 mm.

Assuming that the focal length f of the imaging lens 4 is 4.0 mm, the angle of view in the long side direction can be calculated as about 28 degrees from the following equation. Angle of view in long-side direction = 2 × atan (2.0 / (2 × 4.
0))

Here, atan means an arctangent function.

The focal length f of the imaging lens 4 and the F number (= f / D) defined by the pupil diameter D are set to 2.8.

The radius R of the curved image plane f1 is equal to the reciprocal of the Petzval sum P. That is, Petzval sum P
Is expressed by the following equation. Note that, here, n represents the refractive index of the imaging lens 4. P = Σ1 / (nf)

In this case, since there is only one imaging lens 4, the radius R of the image plane 201 of the embodiment has a refractive index n of 1.
If it is set to 5, it can be obtained from the following equation. R = 1 / P = n × f = 1.5 × 4.0 = 6.0

Now, as shown in FIG. 13, it is considered that the range from the center of the effective pixel area to 70% of 1/2 of the diagonal length Ld is made uniform. 1 with diagonal length Ld from this center
The position Lm of 70% of / 2 can be obtained from the following equation. Lm = 0.7 × Ld / 2 = 0.4375 × Lh = 0.8
75 mm

As shown in FIG. 14, the center of the image forming surface f1 is O, the intersection of the optical axis of the image forming lens 4 and the ideal image surface f2 is S, and the ideal image surface separated from the point S by the distance Lm. The point on f2 is Q, the point of intersection of the image plane f1 with the line 205 at the position Zm away from the ideal image plane f2 on the side of the image formation lens 4 is T, and the point of intersection of the line 205 and the optical axis is U. , Point T,
The angle θ formed by O and U is approximately atan (Lm /
R) is approximated. Therefore, when the radius of the image plane f1 is R (distance between points O and T = distance between points O and S), the distance between the points O and U is calculated by the following equation. R × cos {atan (Lm / R)}

Therefore, the point S on the optical axis on the ideal image plane f2 is
From the ideal image plane f2 at the position of the point Q where the distance from is (Lm) (image height is Lm)
m can be calculated from the following equation, where R = 0.6 mm and Lm = 0.875 mm. Zm = R × (1-cos {atan (Lm / R)}) =
0.0628mm

Now, assuming that the image pickup surface 203 is arranged at the position of Zm / 2 from the ideal image surface f2 to the side of the image forming lens 4, the vicinity of the end portion of the screen (the position of the image height Lm) and the screen. In the central part, a Zm / 2 defocus occurs. The diameter α of the circle of confusion generated by this focus shift can be obtained from the following equation from the relationship of F = f / D = (Zm / 2) / α. α = (Zm / 2) /F=0.0314/Fmm

Further, the MTF due to the circular opening can be obtained from the following equation. M (ω) = [J1 {πα (k / Lh)}] / {πα (k
/ Lh)}

Here, J1 represents a first-order Bessel function of the first kind, and k / Lh represents a spatial frequency in the horizontal direction.
Therefore, k corresponds to the number of divisions of the horizontal length Lh. Since the vertical resolution characteristic is determined by the scanning line of the television system, only the horizontal direction will be considered here.

First order Bessel function of the first kind J1 is 0
Since the value when becomes, is 3.83, the following equation holds. πα (k / Lh) = 3.83

Therefore, from the above equation, the MTF shown in FIG.
The trap point fn (= k / Lh) of is obtained as follows. (K / Lh) = 3.83 / (πα) = 38.8F

Therefore, k can be obtained as follows. k = 38.8 × F × Lh = 38.8 × 2 × F = 77.6
F

Therefore, in order to secure the above spatial frequency,
The required minimum number of pixels G can be obtained from the following equation according to the sampling theorem. G = 2k = 2 × 77.6F = 155F

In the above calculation, the refractive index n of the imaging lens 4 is set to 1.5, but if the value is higher (for example, 1.9), the following equation can be obtained. G = 2k = 200F

That is, it is a condition for obtaining a uniform image that the effective pixel pitch of the CCD bare chip 12 is larger than 1 / (200F) of the long side of the effective area. In other words, this means that the number of effective pixels in the horizontal direction is 200F.
Means smaller than.

In FIG. 14, the diameter α of the circle of confusion is
The line connecting the end of the aperture of the imaging lens 4 and the point T is the imaging surface 2
It can be obtained as a distance of a point intersecting 03.

Therefore, as schematically shown in FIG. 15, the pitch P _P of the pixels 211 on the image pickup surface of the CCD bare chip 12 shown in FIG. 3 is formed so as to satisfy the above condition.

Next, using one imaging lens 4, the condition of the focal length f is used to image a subject at a distance from the shortest distance S to infinity (∞) with the least out-of-focus. Will be described. Now, as shown in FIG. 16, if the amount of deviation between the image forming position of the image forming lens 4 of an object at infinity and the image forming position of the object of the closest distance S by the image forming lens 4 is g, an image is formed. From the formula, the following formula is established. g × (S−f) = f ²

The following equation can be obtained by rearranging the above equation by utilizing the fact that the distance S is sufficiently larger than the focal length f. ^{g = f 2 / (S-} f) = f 2 / S

In order to reduce the amount of focus shift as a whole within the range of this shift amount g, the image pickup surface 203 of the CCD bare chip 12 is set at the midpoint of the shift amount g (position of g / 2). You can do this.

As in the case of FIG. 13, when the long side of the screen of the image sensor is Lh and the radius of field curvature is R (= n × f), the amount Z of curvature of the image surface at the image height L is It can be calculated from the following formula. Z = R × (1−R ² −L ² ) ^1/2 Here, L ² / R ² is sufficiently smaller than 1, so the above equation can be arranged as follows. Z = R × (1- (1 -L 2 / (2 × R 2))) = L 2 / (2 × R) = L 2 / (2 × n × f)

The square of the total focus shift amount D is g / 2.
Since there is no correlation between Z and Z, it can be expressed as the sum of squares thereof as shown in the following equation. ^{D 2 = (g / 2)} 2 + Z 2 = (f 2/2 × S) 2 + (L 2 / (2 × n × f)) 2 = (f 4/4 × S 2) + L 4 / (4 × n ² × f ² )

F which gives the minimum value of D ² obtained by the above equation
In order to obtain, the following equation is obtained by setting the equation obtained by differentiating the above D ² with f to 0. ^{f 3 / S 2 -L 4 /} (2 × n 2 × f 3) = 0

By solving this equation, the following equation is obtained. f = ((S ² × L ⁴ ) / (2 × n ² )) ^(1/6)

That is, the focal length f given by the above equation
However, it is possible to provide a certain width without strictly setting the value given by the above equation.

That is, in general, what is important in an image is
Since the distance from the center of the screen to half of the diagonal length of the screen is 70%, in order to prevent out-of-focus evenly in this range, the image height L should be half the diagonal length. The length may be set to 0.35 to 0.5 times. If the screen aspect ratio is 4: 3, half the diagonal length is (5 /
8) × Lh, the image height L should be set in the following range. 0.35 x (5/8) x Lh = 0.219 Lh <L <0.5 x (5/8) x Lh = 0.312 Lh

Further, in consideration of application to a video conference, the above-mentioned closest distance S may be 200 mm to 300 mm. Further, the refractive index n of the imaging lens 4 is n = 1.4 to 1.9. By substituting these conditions into the formula of the focal length f and arranging them, the following formula is obtained. 1.53 x (Lh ^(2/3) ) <f <2.46 x Lh ^(2/3)

That is, if the focal length f of one imaging lens 4 is set within the range defined by the above equation, the closest distance S
Therefore, it is possible to capture an image of an object existing at infinity without defocusing.

FIG. 17 shows the square root of the square of the focal length f (horizontal axis) and the total focus shift amount D ((D ² ) ^1/2 ) (vertical axis).
Represents an example of calculation. In this case, L = 0.
63 mm, S = 200 mm, and n = 1.5.

That is, in this example, the focal length f
It can be seen that when is set to about 4 mm, the amount of focus shift is the smallest.

A method of manufacturing the image pickup device shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, as shown in FIG. 18, the CCD bare chip 12 and further other chips are mounted on the substrate 1 and electrically connected as necessary. In this embodiment, as the other chips, the driver 13 and the A / D converter 1 are used.
4, a timing generator 15, a memory (2-port memory) 16, and a signal processing circuit 17 are mounted. Further, necessary leads 5 are provided on the substrate 1 and, if necessary, electrically connected to the chip mounted on the substrate 1.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 19, a package 2A using a light-shielding material or a transparent material and having holes 3 formed therein.
Alternatively, the lens part 10 is molded, and the lens part 10 is fitted into the hole 3 of the package 2 </ b> A so as to be integrated, thereby manufacturing the holder 2.

Then, the substrate 1 and the holder 2 are integrated by filling the filler 20 as shown in FIG. 3 with the leg 11 of the lens portion 10 abutting the CCD bare chip 12. .

As described above, when the substrate 1 and the holder 2 are integrated with each other, no special adjustment is required, so that the image pickup device can be manufactured easily and at low cost.

In the above case, the package 2A or the lens portion 10 is separately molded, and then the holder 2 is manufactured by integrating them, but in addition to this, for example, in FIG. As shown, the holder 2 may be manufactured by simultaneously molding the package 2A and the lens unit 10 by using a light-shielding material and a transparent material. Further, in this case, as shown in FIG. 21, the leg portion 11 of the lens portion 10 can be configured by using a light shielding material instead of a transparent material. In this case, leg 1
It is possible to prevent the reflection of light at 1, so that
It is possible to reduce flare.

FIG. 22 shows an electrical configuration example of a video camera to which the image pickup apparatus of FIG. 1 is applied. Light from the subject enters the imaging lens 4 through the hole 3 and the imaging lens 4
Is configured to form an image of the light on the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12. The CCD bare chip 12 receives various timing signals yv,
It is designed to operate according to yh, ys,
The light imaged by the imaging lens 4 is photoelectrically converted, and the resulting image signal is output to a cds processing circuit (correlation double sampling processing circuit) 21. The driver 13 converts the level of the timing signals xv, xh, xs for driving the CCD bare chip 12 supplied from the timing generator 15 and also performs impedance conversion, thereby timing signals yv, yh, Let ys. Then, by supplying this to the CCD bare chip 12, the CCD bare chip 12 is driven.

The A / D converter 14 samples the image signal from the cds processing circuit 21 in accordance with the sampling clock pa supplied from the timing generator 15, whereby the image signal is converted into digital image data in the memory 16 and The data is output to the accumulator 22. The A / D converter 14
Determines a bit to be assigned to a sample value with reference to a reference voltage vref supplied from the outside. The timing generator 15 is configured to generate various timing signals based on the clock supplied from the external clock generation circuit 31. That is, the timing generator 15 is a CCD
Timing signal xv or x for transferring charges generated in the bare chip 12 vertically or horizontally, respectively.
h, a timing signal (so-called shutter pulse) xs for discharging the charges generated in the CCD bare chip 12 (discharging to the substrate of the CCD bare chip 12), a timing signal sh for operating the cds processing circuit 21, A / D A sampling clock pa for giving sampling timing in the converter 14,
Further, the timing signal w for giving the timing of writing the image data in the memory 16 is generated.

The memory 16 is, for example, a 2-port memory capable of reading and writing data at the same time.
The image data from the converter 14 is stored according to the timing signal w supplied from the timing generator 15. The image data stored in the memory 16 is read by an external MPU (microprocessor unit) 32. The MPU 32 reads the image data from the memory 16 so that the MPU 32 gives a predetermined address to the memory 16 via the address bus adrs so that the image data stored at the address is stored on the data bus data. Are output to the MPU 32, and the MPU 32 takes in this.

The cds processing circuit 21 is adapted to operate according to the timing signal sh supplied from the timing generator 15, and the CCD bare chip 1
The image signal from 2 is subjected to so-called correlated double sampling processing and other necessary processing to reduce (or remove) noise components contained in the image signal, and The data is output to the D converter 14.

The accumulator 22 is the A / D converter 1
The timing generator 1 calculates the integrated value of the image data output from 4 corresponding to the main part (for example, the central part) of the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12.
It is designed to output to 5. The timing generator 15 controls the timing signal for discharging the electric charge generated in the CCD bare chip 12, that is, the timing of the shutter pulse xs, so that the integrated value supplied from the accumulator 22 does not deviate significantly from a prescribed value. In this way, the iris is electronically adjusted.
That is, when the integrated value becomes large, the exposure time (charge accumulation time) is shortened, and when the integrated value becomes small, the exposure time is lengthened. The accumulator 22 is adapted to be reset at the field cycle (frame cycle in some cases). Therefore, the accumulator 22
From, the integrated value of the image data for each field (or one frame) is output.

The clock generation circuit 31 is connected to the timing generator 15 via the lead 5, and generates a clock for operating the video camera and supplies it to the timing generator 15. The MPU 32 reads image data from the image pickup device (memory 16) via the address bus adrs or the data bus data and the lead 5 and performs predetermined signal processing.

Further, from the outside, the voltage Vd to be the power source of each chip, the predetermined reference voltage gnd as the ground, and the voltage Vh for driving the CCD bare chip 12 are supplied from the outside through the leads 5. Has been done.

The cds processing circuit 21 and the accumulator 22 correspond to the signal processing circuit 17 of FIG.

Next, the operation will be described. The light from the subject enters the imaging lens 4 through the hole 3 functioning as a fixed diaphragm, and the light is imaged on the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12 by the imaging lens 4.

Here, FIG. 23 shows a state in which the light L outside the object to be imaged, which is emitted from the imaging lens 4, is reflected by the front surface of the leg portion 11. As mentioned above, the leg 1
No. 1 has two side surfaces facing the optical axis of the imaging lens 4, and the cross section thereof is rectangular.
The angle a of the corner portion formed by the two surfaces is a right angle.
Therefore, as shown in the figure, when the light L outside the imaging target is reflected by the side surface of the leg portion 11, the reflected light is CC
It does not reach the light-receiving surface of the D bare chip 12. Therefore, there is almost no increase in flare due to the provision of the legs 11.

The angle a may be a right angle or an acute angle. However, when the angle a is set to an obtuse angle, in FIG. 23, the light reflected by the front surface of the leg portion 11 gradually becomes C
It is not preferable because it is incident on the CD bare chip 12 side.

It is also possible to coat the leg portion 11 with, for example, a light-shielding paint so that the light incident thereon does not reach the CCD bare chip 12.
Furthermore, the shape of the cross section of the leg 11 can be a quadrangle other than a rectangle, a triangle, a pentagon, or the like. However, in order to prevent the flare from increasing, at least one of the side faces of the leg portion 11 has a right angle or an acute angle at a corner portion formed by at least one adjacent side surface, and the corner portion has a right angle or an acute angle. It is necessary to face the optical axis of.

Returning to FIG. 22, in the CCD bare chip 12, the light received there is photoelectrically converted, and the image signal corresponding to the light is output to the cds processing circuit 21 according to the timing signal from the driver 13. cds
In the processing circuit 21, the image signal from the CCD bare chip 12 is subjected to correlated double sampling processing, and A / D
It is output to the converter 14. In the A / D converter 14, cd
The image signal from the s processing circuit 21 is sampled, converted into digital image data by this, and supplied to the accumulator 22. In the accumulator 22,
Of the image data from the A / D converter 14, the predetermined data as described above is integrated and the integrated value is output to the timing generator 15. The timing generator 15 generates various timing signals based on the clock from the clock generation circuit 31. When the integrated value is supplied from the accumulator 22, the integrated value does not deviate significantly from a predetermined specified value. Then, the generation timing of the shutter pulse xs is changed.

The image data output from the A / D converter 14 is supplied to and stored in the memory 16 as well as the accumulator 22. In the MPU 32, image data is read from the memory 16 and subjected to predetermined processing when necessary.

In one package as an image pickup device,
CCD bare chip 12 that performs photoelectric conversion and outputs an image signal, and A that performs A / D conversion on the output of CCD bare chip 12
Since the memory 16 for storing the outputs of the A / D converter 14 and the A / D converter 14 is provided, when the image pickup apparatus is viewed from the MPU 32, the image pickup apparatus is equivalent to the memory, and therefore the image pickup apparatus and its There is no need to be aware of the synchronization relationship with external blocks. As a result, when the image pickup apparatus is applied to the above-mentioned video camera or other apparatus, it can be easily incorporated and handled.

In addition, instead of the memory 16, a camera circuit such as an NTSC encoder is arranged so that the image data can be transferred to the NTS.
The video signal may be converted into a C format video signal and output.

In the present embodiment, the imaging lens 4
The bare chip of the CCD is used as the photoelectric conversion element for photoelectrically converting the light from the. However, as the photoelectric conversion element, other than that, for example, the destructive readout for reading the charge charged in the capacitor such as the CMOS image sensor as an image signal. It is also possible to use a bare chip of the image pickup device. Further, as the photoelectric conversion element, it is possible to use other than the destructive readout type image pickup element. CCD
When other photoelectric conversion elements are used, the cds processing circuit 21 need not be provided.

Further, in this embodiment, the memory 16 is a two-port memory, but the memory 16 is a 2-port memory.
It is also possible to use a normal memory that is not a port memory. However, when the memory 16 is not a two-port memory, a circuit for adjusting the reading of image data by the CPU 32 and the writing of image data by the A / D converter 14 is required.

Further, in this embodiment, the lens unit 1
Each of the four legs 11 of the CCD bare chip 1
The four legs 11 are provided so as to come into contact with the four sides of the CCD bare chip 12 (portions marked with ▲ in FIG. 2), for example. Things are possible. However, in this case, the reflected light reflected by the legs 11 is the CCD bare chip 1
Since the flare is generated by the incidence on the beam 2, and the connection line from the CCD bare chip 12 becomes difficult to draw out, the leg portions 11 are provided so as to contact the four corners of the CCD bare chip 12 as described in the present embodiment. Is preferred.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 24, the number of leg portions 11 of the lens portion 10 is two, and of the sides marked with a triangle in FIG.
It is also possible to hold at A. Furthermore, even in this case, the protrusion 11A shown in FIG. 7 or FIG.
It is also possible to provide a or a tapered surface 11Ab.

Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the lens portion 10 is integrated with the package 2A (holder 2). However, as shown in FIG. 25, a gap may be provided between the two. Is also possible. In this case, the lower ends of the legs 11 are attached to the substrate 1 with the filler 20. With this configuration, when pressure is applied to the holder 2 from the outside, it is less likely to be directly transmitted to the lens unit 10, and damage to the lens unit 10 can be suppressed. Become. In the case of this embodiment, the position of the diaphragm due to the hole 3 is separated from the image forming lens 4, but the effect of the diaphragm is not so sensitive, so there is practically no problem.

By the way, generally, the synthetic resin has a coefficient of thermal expansion about 10 times larger than that of glass, and the change in refractive index with temperature is about 100 times larger than that of glass. As a result, if the imaging lens 4 is made of synthetic resin, the focal length changes when the temperature changes, and the adjustment mechanism is not provided,
It becomes difficult to be able to use it over wide temperature changes. Therefore, in this embodiment, the adjusting mechanism is substantially provided as follows, for example.

That is, as shown in FIG. 26, when the temperature rises, the length L ₁₁ of the leg ₁₁ becomes longer. Further, between the refractive index n of the convex lens and the focal length f, the following equation is substantially established. f = K / (2 (n-1)) Here, K is a coefficient related to the curvature of the lens spherical surface.

Therefore, when the temperature rises, the focal length f of the imaging lens 4 shown in FIG. 26 changes.

It is now assumed that the change in the refractive index with respect to the change in the unit temperature is a (/ degree) and the linear expansion coefficient of the leg 11 is b (/ degree). Usually, a of a resin lens is a negative value, its order is 10 ^{−5 to} 10 ⁻⁴ , b is a positive value, and its order is 10 ^{−5 to} 10 ⁻⁴ .

Now, assuming that the focus position change when the temperature rises by T (degrees) at room temperature is Δf, the focus position change Δf can be expressed as follows. Δf = K / (2 (n-1 + a * T))-R / (2 (n-1)) =-a * T * K / (2 (n-1 + a * T) * (n-1)) = -A * T * f / (n-1 + a * T)

However, R = 2 × (n−1) × f Is.

Normally, n-1 >> a * T is established, and therefore the above equation can be expressed as follows. Δf = −a × T × f / (n−1)

When the temperature rises by T, the leg 1
The increment ΔL of the length L ₁₁ of 1 can be expressed by the following equation. ΔL = b × T × L ₁₁

Therefore, the actual movement amount Δh of the focal length surface is Δh.
Is as follows: Δh = Δf−ΔL

Therefore, Δh is the focal depth Δ of the imaging lens 4.
By designing so as to fit in Z, that is, by designing so as to satisfy the following equation | −a × f / (n−1) −b × L ₁₁ | <(ΔZ / T), Even if is changed, it becomes possible to position the focus position f1 on the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12.

Further, in the above embodiment, the spatial frequency of the incident light image is limited by utilizing the aberration of the lens or the like, and the aliasing distortion generated on the CCD bare chip 12 is reduced. However, depending on the application of the camera,
It is required to sufficiently suppress color moire generated in a single-chip color camera. In this case, it is necessary to sharply suppress only the specific spatial frequency, but it is difficult to sharply suppress only the specific spatial frequency by the spatial frequency limiting method as in the above embodiment.

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 27, the imaging lens 4 is divided into two by the horizontal plane passing through the center to form imaging lenses 4A and 4B, and the imaging lens 4A is formed on the divided surface.
It is possible to use a lens having a structure in which the discontinuous surface 4C is formed by horizontally rotating the imaging lens 4B by an angle θ with respect to the imaging lens 4B. When this imaging lens 4 is viewed from above, FIG.
As shown in.

In this case, the light from the subject passes through the upper imaging lens 4A and then forms an image on the CCD bare chip 12 and the lower imaging lens 4B passes and forms an image on the CCD bare chip 12. It is horizontally separated from the position by a distance Q. That is, at this time, the following equation is established. θ = 2 × atan (Q / 2f)

As a result, the MTF of the imaging lenses 4A and 4B is as shown in FIG. 29, and the spatial frequency is 1
In / (2Q), the characteristics are sharply lowered.

In order to obtain such characteristics, the discontinuous surface of the imaging lens 4 does not necessarily have to be horizontal, but as shown in FIG.
(A)) or an oblique direction (FIG. 30 (B)).

Further, in the above embodiment, the leg portion 11 of the lens portion 10 is brought into direct contact with the CCD bare chip 12, but it may be brought into contact with the substrate 1. FIG. 31 shows an example of this case.

That is, in the embodiment of FIG. 31, the substrate 1 is provided with the recess 1A having a shape slightly larger than the CCD bare chip 12. And the CCD bare chip 12
Is adhered to the recess 1A with a filler 20, and the notch 11A of the leg 11 of the lens unit 10 is locked to the corner of the recess 1A of the substrate 1. The outer periphery of the leg 11 is adhered to the substrate 1 with the filler 20. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG.

FIG. 32 shows CC in the embodiment of FIG.
The process for attaching the D bare chip 12 and the lens unit 10 to the substrate 1 is shown.

That is, first, as shown in FIG. 32 (A), the image pickup surface of the CCD bare chip 12 is sucked by the jig 501 for gripping the suction type IC chip. Then, as shown in FIG. 32 (B), the filler 20 is applied in advance to the concave portion 1A of the substrate 1, and as shown in FIG. 32 (C), the CCD bare chip 12 held by the jig 501.
Is die-bonded into the recess 1A of the substrate 1. At this time, the upper surface 1B of the substrate 1 and the surface 501A of the jig 501 are in contact with each other, and the imaging surface of the CCD bare chip 12 is the upper surface 1 of the substrate 1.
It is positioned at the same height as B.

Next, as shown in FIG. 32D, the notch 11A of the lens portion 10 is engaged with the corner portion formed by forming the concave portion 1A of the substrate 1. Then, as shown in FIG. 32 (E), the filler 20 is filled between the outer periphery of the leg 11 and the upper surface of the substrate 1 and bonded.

In the case of this embodiment, since the CCD bare chip 12 is die-bonded in the recess 1A,
Although the height of the image pickup surface of the CCD bare chip 12 can be accurately positioned, the mounting accuracy in the horizontal plane (in the XY plane) is slightly lowered. However, CC
The lens unit 1 is located at a position away from the imaging surface of the D bare chip 12.
Since the leg portion 11 of 0 can be arranged, even if there is a bonding wire (not shown) of the CCD bare chip 12, this can be easily avoided and the lens portion 10 can be attached. Further, it is possible to reduce the influence of defective reflection on the leg 11.

Furthermore, for example, the leg portion 11 of the lens portion 10
Can be a box-shaped leg portion whose four sides are surrounded as shown in FIG. 33 to prevent dust and the like from entering the inside. Further, at this time, as shown in FIG. 33, the projection 11Aa can be provided on the bottom surface of the leg portion 11. Alternatively, for example, as shown in FIG. 34, two opposing leg portions may be provided. Then, in this case, a cylindrical protrusion 11Aa can be formed on the bottom surface of the leg portion 11.

FIG. 35 shows another configuration example of the image pickup apparatus shown in FIG. That is, in this embodiment, the clock generation circuit 31 in FIG. 22 is housed inside the image pickup apparatus, the camera processing circuit 511 is provided in place of the memory 16, and the A / D converter 14 is provided.
Output is being supplied. Then, the camera processing circuit 51
1, the luminance signal and the color difference signal, or R, G,
A B signal or the like is generated. Further, an encoder may be built in here to convert the video data into, for example, NTSC format video data. The output is F
The data is supplied to the IFO memory 512, stored once, and then read at a predetermined timing. FIFO memory 512
The data read by the parallel serial (P /
S) The parallel data is input to the converter 513, converted into parallel data, and output from the output terminal 517 via the driver 515 as positive-phase data and negative-phase data.

On the other hand, the in-phase and anti-phase data input from the input terminal 518 is input to the arbitration circuit 514 after the in-phase component is removed by the receiver 516. Arbitration circuit 5
Reference numeral 14 controls the FIFO memory 512 in response to the input control data, writes the data from the camera processing circuit 511, performs control to read at a predetermined timing, controls the driver 515, and parallel-serial converter. The data from 513 is output.

This driver 515 and receiver 516 are
This is based on the serial bus standard defined by IEEE 1394. In addition, it is also possible to make it compliant with USD, for example.

In this way, data is output serially,
Further, by being configured to receive an input, it is possible to prevent the image pickup device from becoming larger than when inputting / outputting parallel data.

Since the operation of the preceding stage of the A / D converter 14 is the same as that in the case of FIG. 22, its explanation is omitted.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 36 is a perspective view showing the structure of a second embodiment of an image pickup apparatus to which the present invention is applied. This image pickup device also has a substrate 5 similar to the image pickup device of the first embodiment.
The holder (package) 52 is attached (fitted) to the unit 1 to integrate them. However, in order to further reduce the size, weight, and cost of the image pickup apparatus of the first embodiment, the holder 52 is provided.
Has, as a part thereof, one imaging lens 54 for imaging light (therefore, the holder 52 corresponds to the lens unit 10 in the first embodiment), and Only the CCD bare chip 12 (FIGS. 37 to 39) that photoelectrically converts the light imaged by the imaging lens 54 and outputs an image signal is mounted on the substrate 51. The holder 52 is made of a transparent material (for example, transparent plastic (for example, PMMA)),
The exterior portion excluding the imaging lens 54 is C
The CD bare chip 12 is formed (coated) with a light-shielding film 61 having a light-shielding property that has a diaphragm effect that blocks such marginal rays so that they are not so incident. In addition, the CCD bare chip 12 is the first
This is similar to the case in the embodiment.

FIG. 37 is a plan view of the image pickup apparatus of FIG. 36, and FIG. 38 or 39 is a cross-sectional view of the portion BB ′ or CC ′ in FIG. 36, respectively.
On the substrate 51, as described above, the CCD bare chip 1
Only 2 is installed. The CCD bare chip 12
Is mounted at a position facing the imaging lens 54 formed as a part of the holder 52 when the holder 52 is mounted on the substrate 51.

Further, on the side surface of the substrate 51, similarly to the substrate 1, there are provided leads 55 for outputting a signal to the outside and inputting a signal from the outside. Note that FIG.
38 and 39, illustration of the lead 55 is omitted.

CCD bare chip 1 mounted on substrate 51
A connection line 12A for transmitting and receiving a signal is drawn out from 2, and each connection line 12A is connected to a predetermined lead 55.

As described above, the holder 52 is made of a transparent material, and its shape is a box shape whose cross section in the horizontal direction is rectangular (in the state shown in FIG. 38, upside down). ing. Then, in the central portion of the bottom surface (upper part of the image pickup device), an imaging lens 5 as a single lens is formed.
No. 4 is formed, and an antireflection coating is applied to the inside of the imaging lens 54 except the part thereof.
That is, a light-shielding paint is applied to the holder 52,
Alternatively, processing similar to this is performed, and the light shielding film 61 is thereby formed.

Now, as shown in FIG. 37, the length of the side (vertical side in FIG. 37) on the side where the connection line 12A of the CCD bare chip 12 is extended is the extension line 12.
It is longer than the length of the side without A (the side in the horizontal direction in FIG. 37). Therefore, the distance between the leg portions 62, which are the four side surfaces of the holder 52 and which face each other in the horizontal direction in FIG. 37, of the two pairs of leg portions 62, is short, as shown in FIG. The distance between the leg portions 62 that face each other in the vertical direction in FIG. 37 becomes long as shown in FIG. 39. And one opposing leg 62
The inner part is hollowed out, which results in the cutout 62A.
Are formed. The notch 62A is fitted into the vertical two sides of the CCD bare chip 12 with high accuracy.

In this embodiment, the holder 52 is formed by molding, for example, transparent plastic (therefore, the imaging lens 54 as well as the imaging lens 4 is a plastic molded single lens). Therefore, the relative accuracy of the size of each part of the holder 52 with respect to the principal point of the imaging lens 54 is sufficiently high.

One of the opposing leg portions 62 of the holder 52 is
Each of the cutouts 62A is in direct contact with the CCD bare chip 12 by being fitted to the vertical two sides of the CCD bare chip 12 in FIG.
The length of one of the leg portions 62 facing each other (the length in the vertical direction in FIG. 38) is somewhat shorter than the length of the leg portion 62 facing the other (the length in the vertical direction in FIG. 39). . As a result, the lower end of one of the opposing leg portions 62 (FIG. 38) is slightly notched from the substrate 51, and the notch 62A is formed.
, But is in direct contact with the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12 and its side surface with a certain pressure (therefore, the leg portion 62 on one side (FIG. 38) is abutted against the CCD bare chip 12). . It should be noted that this pressure is generated by fitting the holder 52 to the substrate 51 and then adhering and sealing the substrate 51 and the holder 52 by filling the filler 20 while applying a predetermined pressure. ing.

The opposite leg portion 62 of the other (FIG. 39) of the holder 52 is somewhat longer than the opposite leg portion 62 of one (FIG. 38), but the notch 62A has the notch 62A.
When it is abutted against the light receiving surface of 2, the lower part of the substrate 5
The length is set so as not to touch 1. Therefore, the substrate 51 and the holder 52 are adhered to each other in such a manner that the facing leg portion 62 on one side (FIG. 38) is brought into contact with the CCD bare chip 12 with high priority.

The optical characteristics of the imaging lens 54 and the dimensions (length) of the two leg portions (one (FIG. 38) opposing leg portion) 62 that abut the CCD bare chip 12 are:
The procedure is similar to that described with reference to FIG. 11 or 12.

As described above, in this embodiment as well, C
Since the substrate 51 on which the CD bare chip 12 is mounted and the holder 52 on which the imaging lens 54 and the light-shielding film 61 having the diaphragm effect are formed are integrated, it is easy to incorporate and handle the application of the imaging device. Therefore, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Furthermore, the relative accuracy of the dimensions of each part of the holder 52 with respect to the principal point of the imaging lens 54 is sufficiently high, and one of the opposing leg parts 62 (FIG. 38) has a CCD bare chip. Since it directly abuts the light receiving surface of 12, the imaging lens 54 can be accurately arranged without any special adjustment, as in the case of the imaging lens 4 of the first embodiment. As a result, the size and weight of the imaging device can be reduced.

The holder 52 has, as a part thereof,
Since the imaging lens 54 is formed and only the CCD bare chip 12 is mounted on the substrate 51, the size, weight and cost of the image pickup device can be further reduced as compared with the case of the first embodiment. Can be planned.

Further, as shown in FIG. 39, the holder 52
Since the distance between the other opposing leg portions 62 is longer than the horizontal length of the CCD bare chip 12 in FIG. 37, the connection line 12A can be easily routed.

Next, a method of manufacturing the image pickup device shown in FIGS. 36 to 39 will be described. First, CC on the substrate 51
The D bare chip 12 is mounted, the leads 55 are provided, and the connection line 12 of the CCD bare chip 12 is provided as necessary.
The A and the lead 55 are connected. On the other hand, the light shielding film 61 is formed after molding the holder 52, which is made of a transparent material, has the imaging lens 54, and has the notch 62A in the leg portion 62. Then, with the substrate 51 and the holder 52 with one of the opposing leg portions 62 abutting against the CCD bare chip 12, as shown in FIGS.
It is integrated by filling with 0.

When the substrate 51 and the holder 52 are integrated with each other, no special adjustment is required as in the case of the first embodiment, so that the image pickup device can be manufactured easily and at low cost. it can.

Also in this case, the holder 52 (imaging lens 54) is made of a transparent material and a light shielding material.
Can be molded. As a result, FIG.
As shown in, the imaging lens 54 can be formed of a transparent material, and the leg portion 62 can be formed of a light shielding material.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 41, the imaging lens 54 including the leg portion 62 is formed of a transparent material, and the outer sheet 91 and the inner sheet 9 are formed on the outer peripheral side and the inner peripheral side, respectively.
The holder 52 may be formed by covering 2 with the cover. The outer sheet 91 and the inner sheet 92 are made of a light-shielding material, and are formed so as to correspond to the shapes of the outer peripheral side and the inner peripheral side of the imaging lens 54. Alternatively, the outer sheet 9
Instead of covering 1 and the inner sheet 92, it may be painted black.

Besides this, as shown in FIG. 42, for example, CC
With the D bare chip 12 mounted on the substrate 51 and the imaging lens 54 mounted on the substrate 51, the outer circumferences of the substrate 51 and the imaging lens 54 may be molded with a black resin 66.

Further, this image pickup device outputs the signal output from the driver 13 shown in FIG.
An image signal which is driven by being input through the input terminal 5 and, as a result, also obtained through the lead 55 is externally processed as necessary.

Further, in this embodiment, as a photoelectric conversion element for photoelectrically converting the light from the imaging lens 54, CC
Although the D bare chip 12 is used, as the photoelectric conversion element, it is possible to use, for example, a destructive readout type image pickup element or the like as described in the first embodiment.

The substrate 51 in the embodiment shown in FIG.
Can be enlarged as shown in FIG. 43, and various components 67 can be arranged on the substrate 51.

Further, as the image forming lens, not only the one-stage structure but also the image forming lens 54A as shown in FIG.
A two-stage configuration of (convex lens) and imaging lens 54B (concave lens) may be used. Of course, it is also possible to adopt a configuration having three or more stages.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 45 shows a structural example of a video camera incorporating the image pickup apparatus 100 to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, the same reference numerals are given to the portions corresponding to the case in FIG. The image pickup apparatus 100 is configured similarly to the image pickup apparatus of the first or second embodiment. However, the CCD bare chip 12 and the A / D converter 70 are mounted on the substrate 1 (or 51). In addition, in the present embodiment, the image pickup apparatus 100 is assumed to be configured similarly to the image pickup apparatus of the first embodiment.

The A / D converter 70 is a serial output type A
The output period of the image signal output from the CCD bare chip 12 by the / D converter (the time from the output of the image signal corresponding to a certain pixel to the output of the image signal corresponding to the next pixel) A / D conversion is performed at the timing of the sampling clock p1 having a cycle of 1/2, and digital image data obtained as a result is output in the form of serial data.

The A / D converter 70 determines the bit to be assigned to the sample value with reference to the reference voltage vref supplied from the outside.

As the A / D converter 70, it is also possible to use a parallel output type A / D converter which outputs the image data obtained as a result of sampling in the form of parallel data (in this case). , S / P converter 71 described later
Is unnecessary). However, when a parallel output type A / D converter is used as the A / D converter 70, it is necessary to provide as many leads 5 as the number of bits of image data to be output in the form of parallel data. When the / D converter 70 is a serial output type A / D converter, only one lead 5 is required to output the image data. Therefore,
The use of a serial output type as the A / D converter 70 can make the image pickup apparatus 100 smaller.

S / P (serial / parallel) converter 71
Is configured to convert serial image data output from the image pickup apparatus 100 (A / D converter 70) into parallel image data and output the parallel image data to a D-FF (delayed flip-flop) 72 and a subtraction circuit 73. ing. D-FF7
2 delays the image data from the S / P converter 71 by one clock in accordance with a clock p2 having the same period as the sampling clock p1 and outputs the delayed image data to the subtraction circuit 73. The subtraction circuit 73 calculates the difference between the image data from the S / P converter 71 and the output of the D-FF 72, and outputs the difference value to the D-FF 74. The D-FF 74 uses 2 of the clock p2.
According to the clock p3 having a double cycle (the same cycle as the pixel output cycle), every other difference value output from the subtraction circuit 73 is latched, and the camera signal processing circuit 75
It is designed to output to.

The camera signal processing circuit 75 is a D-FF 74.
Is subjected to predetermined signal processing.

The timing generator 76 is based on a clock supplied from a clock generation circuit (not shown).
It is designed to generate various timing signals.
That is, the timing generator 76 generates a timing signal for driving the CCD bare chip 12 and supplies the timing signal to the driver 13, as in the timing generator 15 of FIG. Further, the timing generator 76 has the clocks p1, p2 and
p3 is generated, A / D converter 70, D-FF 72, 73
Supply to each. Also, the timing generator 7
6 generates a clock necessary for the S / P converter 71 to operate and supplies it to the S / P converter 71. The various timing signals output by the timing generator 76 are synchronized with each other (synchronized with the clock from the clock generation circuit).

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG. The light from the subject
The light enters the imaging lens 4 and is imaged on the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12 by the imaging lens 4. CC
In the D bare chip 12, the light received there is photoelectrically converted, and the image signal out corresponding to the light is output to the driver 1
A / D converter 7 according to the timing signal from 3
It is output to 0. Here, FIG. 46A shows an image signal out output from the CCD bare chip 12.

In the A / D converter 70, the image signal out output from the CCD bare chip 12 has a sampling clock p1 (FIG. 4) having a cycle of ½ of its output cycle.
6 (B)), for example, digital image data sa (FIG. 46 (C)) that is A / D converted at the timing of the rising edge and obtained as a result is in the form of serial data.
It is output to the S / P converter 71. The S / P converter 71 uses the serial image data sa from the A / D converter 70.
Is converted into parallel image data sb (FIG. 46 (E)) and output to the D-FF 72 and the subtraction circuit 73.

In the S / P converter 71, one clock time is required for the conversion process, and therefore the image data sb
(FIG. 46 (E)) is the image data sa (FIG. 46 (C)).
It is delayed by one clock.

In the D-FF 72, the S / P converter 7 is supplied, for example, at the rising edge timing of the clock p2 (FIG. 46 (D)) supplied from the timing generator 76 and having the same cycle as the sampling clock p1.
The image data sb from 1 is latched, delayed by one clock by this, and made into the image data sc as shown in FIG. 46 (F), which is output to the subtraction circuit 73.

The clock p2 having the same period as the sampling clock p1 is the CCD bare chip 12
Has a cycle that is half the cycle of outputting the image signal out, the image data sc obtained by delaying the image data sb by one cycle of the clock p2 is less than the image data sb.
The phase is delayed by the time corresponding to half the pixel pitch of the CCD bare chip 12. Therefore, the image data s
Hereinafter, c will be appropriately referred to as half-pixel delay data sc.

In the subtraction circuit 73, the half-pixel delay data sc output from the D-FF 72 is subtracted from the image data sb output from the S / P converter 71, and the subtraction value (difference value) sd (FIG. 46). (G)) is output to the D-FF 74. In the D-FF 74, the subtraction value sd from the subtraction circuit 73 is supplied from the timing generator 76 and has a clock p3 having a cycle twice that of the clock p2.
The image data se as shown in FIG. 46 (I) is output to the camera signal processing circuit 75 by being latched at the timing of the rising edge in FIG. 46 (H), for example. That is, in the D-FF 74, the subtraction value sd from the subtraction circuit 73 is latched every other value and output to the camera signal processing circuit 75.

Here, FIG. 47 shows the CCD bare chip 12
Internal configuration example (so-called FDA (Floating Diffusion A
mplifier) part) is shown. The electric charge generated on the light receiving surface of the CCD bare chip 12 is charged (stored) in the capacitor C, whereby the output buffer BUF is charged.
From, a voltage change corresponding to the charge accumulated in the capacitor C is output as an image signal. Then, the switch SW is turned on, whereby the positive voltage E is applied to the capacitor C, whereby the capacitor C is discharged (charged to the reference potential), and then the switch SW is turned off and the capacitor C is turned on. Is in a state in which the electric charge corresponding to the next pixel can be charged.

The CCD bare chip 12 outputs an image signal by repeating the above operation,
Thermal noise is generated when the switch SW is turned on and off, and a voltage corresponding to the thermal noise is held by the capacitor C. In the output buffer BUF, the so-called 1 / f
Noise (fluctuation noise) occurs. Therefore, after the switch SW is turned on and further turned off (such an operation of the switch SW is hereinafter referred to as reset as appropriate), the output level of the output buffer BUF (the output of the output buffer BUF after such reset) Level, below,
Appropriately, the precharge level does not become a predetermined reference level (for example, a black level), and the influence of the above-described thermal noise and 1 / f noise (hereinafter, both are referred to as a noise component). The level will be reflected.

Therefore, normally, the noise component is reduced by performing the correlated double sampling processing as described in the first embodiment on the output of the CCD bare chip 12 before performing the A / D conversion processing. It is designed to obtain the image signal.

However, the image pickup device 100 incorporating the CCD bare chip 12 is made as small as possible, and
When it is desired to obtain digital image data as an output, a cds processing circuit 21 shown in FIG. 22, for example, for performing a correlated double sampling process on the output of the CCD bare chip 12 is incorporated in the image pickup apparatus 100. Then, the demand for miniaturization will not be met.

Therefore, in the video camera of FIG. 45, in order to meet such a demand, after the output of the CCD bare chip 12 is converted into digital image data by the A / D converter 70, the noise component is obtained as follows. Is designed to reduce.

That is, the image signal out output from the CCD bare chip 12 is as shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), a precharge portion (a portion indicated by a dotted line in the figure) that becomes a precharge level, and a capacitor C
Level (signal level) corresponding to the charge charged to the
And a signal part (a part shown by a solid line in the figure). From the above-described principle of generating a noise component, there is a correlation between the noise component included in a certain signal portion and the noise component included in the precharge portion immediately before that. That is, the noise component included in a certain signal portion is almost equal to the precharge level immediately before it. Therefore, from the signal level of a certain signal section,
By subtracting the precharge level immediately before that, the true signal component of the signal portion can be obtained.

D-FF 72, subtraction circuit 73, and D-
In the FF74, the image data sa from the A / D converter 70
On the other hand, image data with reduced noise components is obtained by performing processing corresponding to the above-described principle.

That is, in the A / D converter 70, as described above, the image signal out from the CCD bare chip 12 is output.
Is A / D converted at the timing of the sampling clock p1 (FIG. 46 (B)) having a half of the output cycle, the resulting digital image data sa is shown in FIG. 46 (C). , The signal level (v
i) and the precharge level (fi) are alternately arranged. Note that in FIG. 46C (also in FIGS. 46E and 46F), the signal level or the precharge level is shown by adding a number to v or f, respectively. Further, the same numeral is given to the signal level and the precharge level (a certain signal level and the precharge level immediately before that) to be paired.

The image data sb or the half pixel delay data sc input to the subtraction circuit 73 is the image data s.
Since a (however, converted into the form of parallel data) is delayed by 1 clock or 2 clocks, respectively, it becomes as shown in FIG. 46 (E) or FIG. 46 (F). Further, in the subtraction circuit 73, the image data s
Since the half-pixel delay data sb is subtracted from b, the subtraction value sd obtained from the signal level and the precharge level to be paired is the image data in which the noise component is reduced (hereinafter referred to as appropriate). , True image data). That is, the subtraction value sd becomes true image data every other value, as indicated by adding a number to v ′ in FIG. 46 (G). Note that in FIG. 46 (G),
v '# i (#i is an integer) represents the calculation result of v # i-f # i, and x represents invalid data.

Therefore, in the D-FF74, the subtraction value s
By latching every other bit d at the timing of the clock p3 as shown in FIG. 46H, the true image data se (FIG. 46) is supplied to the camera signal processing circuit 75.
Only (I)) will be supplied.

The subtraction processing in the subtraction circuit 73 reduces the number of effective bits, but the effect of this is that the reference voltage vr applied to the A / D converter 70 is reduced.
By setting ef appropriately, it can be almost ignored.

In the camera signal processing circuit 75, the image data se is converted into an analog signal as shown in FIG. 46 (J) and recorded on a video tape or the like.

As described above, since image data is digitally output from the image pickup apparatus 100, it is possible to easily construct an apparatus incorporating the image data.

Further, in the A / D converter 70, since the A / D conversion is performed at the timing of the sampling clock p1 having a half cycle of the output cycle of the image signal out from the CCD bare chip 12, after that, In addition, the noise component included in the image data can be easily reduced.
As a result, it is not necessary to provide the image pickup apparatus 100 with a circuit for reducing such noise components, and a small image pickup apparatus that outputs digital image data can be realized.

[Fourth Embodiment] It is conceivable that the image pickup apparatus as described above is mounted on a personal computer for use. FIG. 48 shows the external structure of such a personal computer. That is, a keyboard 242 is formed on the upper surface of the notebook type personal computer 240 on the side of the main body 241.
An FD mounting section 244 and a PC card mounting section 245 are formed on the side surface of 41. A PC card 246 can be mounted in the PC card mounting portion 245 as needed, and can be taken out when not in use. The LCD 243 is rotatably supported with respect to the main body 241, and is configured to display image information such as predetermined characters and figures.

FIG. 49 shows the external structure of the PC card 246. In this embodiment, the PC card 246
Has a length of 85.6 mm, a width of 54.0 mm, and a height (thickness)
Is 10.5 mm. This shape is PCMCIA
(Personal computer / memory card / international association) It is defined as a standard type 3 card.

As shown in FIG. 50, this PC card 246 has a housing 301, and a slide member 302 is slidably held on the housing 301. The slide member 302 includes the support member 3
The imaging device 100 is rotatably supported via 03. When the slide member 302 enters the housing 301, the imaging device 100 is also completely housed in the housing 301.

Then, for example, when the personal computer 240 is connected to a communication line such as a telephone line to make a videophone call or a videoconference, as shown in FIG. 50, the PC card 246 is mounted in the PC card mounting portion 245, Case 3
01 by sliding the slide member 302 so that the image pickup apparatus 100 is moved to the personal computer 2
Pull out of 40. Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
The imaging device 100 is supported by the support member 303 as a fulcrum, and the
The hole 3 of the image pickup apparatus 100 is rotated by rotating in the range of 0 to 90 degrees.
The (imaging lens 4) is directed to the user (subject).

FIG. 52 shows an example of the internal construction of the image pickup apparatus 100 housed in the housing 301 of the PC card 246, that is, the fourth embodiment.

This embodiment is basically of the same construction as the first embodiment shown in FIG. However, the CCD bare chip 12 has a light receiving surface (imaging surface) (upper surface in FIG. 52) formed on the substrate 1 on the back side of the substrate 1 (on the side opposite to the imaging lens 4) by the flip chip mounting method. It is mounted so as to face the imaging lens 4 through the formed hole 231. A protrusion 233 is formed on the substrate 1 in order to regulate the position where the CCD bare chip 12 is mounted.

An imaging lens 4 is attached to the upper surface side of the substrate 1 in the figure (the side opposite to the surface on which the CCD bare chip 12 is mounted). A protrusion 232 is formed on the substrate 1 in order to regulate the mounting position of the imaging lens 4. By mounting the CCD bare chip 12 at a predetermined position with the projection 233 as a guide and the imaging lens 4 at a predetermined position with the projection 232 as a guide, the imaging lens 4 and the CCD bare chip 12 are attached to the hole 231 of the substrate 1. Are arranged to face each other at a predetermined relative position.

Further, the driver 13 and the A / D converter 14 are arranged on the upper surface of the substrate 1, and the other components 234 are mounted on the lower surface side of the substrate 1.

A hole 3 functioning as a diaphragm is formed at a predetermined position of the package 2A.
When A is adhered to the substrate 1 via the filler 20, the light incident through the hole 3 is incident on the imaging lens 4. This light is condensed by the imaging lens 4 and is incident on the light receiving surface (imaging surface) of the CCD bare chip 12 through the hole 231 of the substrate 1.

In this embodiment, a predetermined gap is provided between the package 2A and the imaging lens 4 so that when the package 2A receives an external force, the force is not directly transmitted to the imaging lens 4. Has been done.

In this embodiment, the distance from the upper end of the package 2A to the upper end of the imaging lens 4 is 1.5 m.
m, the thickness of the imaging lens 4 is 2.0 mm, the distance from the lower end surface of the imaging lens 4 to the upper surface of the substrate 1 is 4.0 mm, the thickness of the substrate 1 is 0.5 mm, and the lower surface of the substrate 1 is The distance to the lower ends of the CCD bare chip 12, the component 234, etc. mounted on the lower surface side of the substrate 1 can be 1.0 mm. In particular,
The CCD bare chip 12 is attached to the imaging lens 4 via the substrate 1.
Since the substrate 1 can be arranged within the focal length of the imaging lens 4 by mounting it on the main body side, it can be made thinner than the embodiment shown in FIG. as a result,
The total thickness of this example is 9.0 mm. The horizontal length and the vertical length of the image pickup apparatus 100 can be set to 15 mm. Therefore, FIG. 50 and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the imaging device 100 has a thickness of 10.5.
The PC card 246 of mm can be housed inside the housing 301.

FIG. 53 shows a personal computer 240.
2 shows an example of the internal electrical configuration of the. The CPU 311
Various processes are executed in accordance with the programs stored in the ROM 312. RAM313
In the memory, programs and data necessary for the CPU 311 to execute various processes are appropriately stored.

The input / output interface 314 connected to the CPU 311 via the bus has a keyboard 242.
PC card driver 315, FD driver 31
6 and a modem 318 are respectively connected. The PC card driver 315 is configured to send and receive various data to and from the PC card 246 when the PC card 246 is mounted. In addition, the FD driver 31
Reference numeral 6 is adapted to record or reproduce data on the floppy disk 317 when the floppy disk (FD) 317 is mounted. The modem 318 is
It is connected to a communication line such as a telephone line, receives and demodulates the data input through the communication line, and sends it to the CPU 3
11 and the data supplied from the CPU 311 are modulated and output to the communication line.

The input / output interface 314 also has an L
An LCD driver 319 that drives the CD 243 is connected. Further, the audio signal input from the microphone 320 is A / D converted by the A / D converter 321, and then taken into the input / output interface 314. Further, the audio data output from the input / output interface 314 is D / A converted by the D / A converter 322 and then output from the speaker 323.

Next, the operation will be described. For example, when making a videophone call with a predetermined person,
The card 246 is mounted on the PC card mounting portion 245, the image pickup apparatus 100 is pulled out from the PC card 246, and further rotated by a predetermined angle to orient it in its own direction as shown in FIG.

Next, the user operates the keyboard 242 to input the telephone number of the other party. When the CPU 311 receives the input of the telephone number, it controls the modem 318 via the input / output interface 314 to execute the calling operation for the telephone number.

[0215] The modem 318 responds to the instruction from the CPU 311 to perform a calling operation to the other party and, when the other party responds to this calling operation, notifies the CPU 311 to that effect.

At this time, the CPU 311 controls the PC card 246 via the PC card driver 315 to capture the image signal.

In the image pickup apparatus 100, the imaging lens 4
After the user's image is photoelectrically converted by the CCD bare chip 12 via the, the A / D converter 70 performs A / D conversion and outputs to the PC card driver 315. PC card driver 31
Reference numeral 5 denotes an input / output interface 314 for converting image data converted into data in a format according to the PCMCIA standard.
To the CPU 311 via. The CPU 311 supplies this image data to the modem 318 via the input / output interface 314 and causes it to be transmitted to the other party via the communication line.

[0218] On the other hand, when the image data of the other party having the same device is sent through the communication line, the modem 318
Receives and demodulates this and outputs it to the CPU 311. CP
Upon receiving the input of this image data, the U 311 outputs this to the LCD driver 319 and causes the LCD 243 to display it. As a result, the image of the other party is displayed on the LCD 243.

On the other hand, the voice signal spoken by the user toward the other party is taken in by the microphone 320 and A / D converted by the A / D converter 321. The modem 318 is a CP
Under the control of U311, this voice data is transmitted to the other party via the communication line.

The voice data transmitted from the other party is demodulated by the modem 318. The demodulated voice data is D / A converted by the D / A converter 322 and then emitted from the speaker 323.

In this way, the user can use the PC card 246 having the image pickup function in the personal computer 240.
You can easily make a videophone call just by wearing.

In the above embodiments, the image forming lens is composed of one lens, but the image forming lens may be composed of a plurality of lenses as shown in FIG. It is possible.

[0223]

According to the present invention , a holder is provided with one image forming lens for forming an image of light, the exterior of which has a diaphragm effect of blocking external light and a peripheral ray. At least a substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts the light imaged by the imaging lens and outputs an image signal is mounted is integrated. Therefore, the image pickup device can be made smaller, thinner, and lighter, and can be easily incorporated and handled. Further, it becomes possible to use a photoelectric conversion element having a low number of pixels.

According to the present invention , the pitch of effective pixels is set to a value larger than 1 / (200F) of the effective image pickup area, so that it is possible to realize an image pickup apparatus which can be made thin at low cost. it can.

According to the present invention , a part of one image-forming lens for forming an image of light is in direct contact with a photoelectric conversion element for photoelectrically converting the light formed by the image-forming lens and outputting an image signal. Therefore, not only the same effect as in the first aspect can be obtained, but also the optical adjustment between the imaging lens and the photoelectric conversion element can be omitted.

According to the present invention , the photoelectric conversion element, and A
The / D converter is incorporated in one package.
Therefore, not only the same effect as in the case of claim 1 can be obtained, but also a small-sized image pickup device for outputting digital image data can be provided.

According to the present invention , when the image data is obtained by A / D converting the image signal at the timing of a clock having a cycle of 1/2 of the cycle in which the charge coupled device outputs the image signal, The data is delayed by one clock, and the difference between the image data and the image data delayed by one clock is calculated. Then, every other difference is output. Therefore, the noise component included in the image signal output from the charge-coupled device can be reduced.

According to the present invention , since the image pickup device in which the substrate and the holder are integrated is housed in the housing, it is possible to reduce the size, the thickness, the weight, and the cost.

According to the present invention , since the image signal output from the image pickup device of the image pickup adapter device is fetched and processed, the image signal can be easily transmitted at an arbitrary place.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an embodiment of an image pickup apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the image pickup apparatus in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a portion AA ′ of the image pickup apparatus of FIG.

4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a CCD bare chip 12 in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a lens unit 10.

6 is an enlarged view of a portion indicated by Z in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing still another configuration example of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the optical characteristics of the imaging lens 4 and the dimension (length) of the leg portion 11.

10 is a diagram showing a spatial frequency response characteristic of the imaging lens 4. FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement position of an image pickup surface.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing another arrangement example of the imaging surface.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a range in which an image is made uniform.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating curvature of an image plane.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating pixels on a CCD bare chip.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a change in image forming position.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a relationship between a focal length and a focus shift amount.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining the manufacturing method for the imaging device in FIG. 1.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating the method for manufacturing the imaging device in FIG. 1.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of forming a holder.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing another example of forming a holder.

22 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a video camera to which the image pickup apparatus of FIG. 1 is applied.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a state where the light L outside the imaging target, which is emitted from the imaging lens 4, is reflected by the leg 11.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the lens unit.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating another configuration example of the imaging device.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating changes in the focal length of the lens unit and the legs.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of a case where a discontinuous surface is formed on the imaging lens 4.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment of FIG. 27 when viewed from above.

29 is a diagram showing the MTF characteristic of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing another example of forming the discontinuous surface of the imaging lens 4.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing another example of assembly of the CCD bare chip and the substrate of the lens unit.

32 is a diagram showing an assembling process of the embodiment in FIG. 31. FIG.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the lens unit in FIG. 31.

34 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the lens unit in FIG. 31. FIG.

FIG. 35 is a block diagram illustrating another configuration example of the image pickup apparatus.

FIG. 36 is a perspective view showing the configuration of another embodiment of the image pickup apparatus.

37 is a plan view of the image pickup apparatus in FIG. 36. FIG.

38 is a cross-sectional view of a portion BB ′ of the image pickup apparatus in FIG. 37.

39 is a cross-sectional view of a CC ′ portion of the image pickup device in FIG. 37.

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing another example of forming the holder.

FIG. 41 is a view showing still another example of forming the holder.

FIG. 42 is a diagram showing another example of forming a holder.

43 is a diagram showing a modification of the embodiment in FIG. 39. FIG.

FIG. 44 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the imaging lens.

[Fig. 45] Fig. 45 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a video camera to which the present invention has been applied.

46 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the video camera of FIG. 45.

47 is a diagram showing an internal configuration example of the CCD bare chip 12. FIG.

FIG. 48 is a diagram illustrating a usage state of a PC card.

FIG. 49 is a diagram showing a configuration of a PC card.

FIG. 50 is a diagram showing a state where a PC card is mounted on a personal computer.

FIG. 51 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an image pickup apparatus is used in a personal computer.

52 is a diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the imaging device in FIG. 50. FIG.

53 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example of the personal computer in FIG. 48. FIG.

FIG. 54 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a conventional video camera.

FIG. 55 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional imaging device.

56 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the CCD image pickup device of FIG. 55.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 substrate, 2 holders, 2A package, 3
Hole, 4 imaging lens, 10 lens part, 11 leg part, 11A notch, 12 CCD bare chip (charge coupled device), 13 driver, 14 A / D converter, 15 timing generator, 16 memory (2 port memory), 21 cds (correlated double sampling) processing circuit, 22 accumulator, 51
Substrate, 52 holder, 54 imaging lens, 61
Light-shielding film, 62 legs, 62A notch, 70A
/ D converter, 71 S / P converter, 72 D-FF
(D flip-flop), 73 subtraction circuit, 74
D-FF, 76 Timing generator, 100
Imaging device, 101 lens module, 102
Imaging lens, 103 Iris adjustment mechanism, 104
Focus lens, 111 Camera body, 112
Optical LPF (low pass filter), 113 image sensor, 114 camera processing circuit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/225 G02B 7/02 G02B 7/28 H04N 5/335

Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] 1. An exterior holder provided with at least one image-forming lens for forming an image of light, which has a diaphragm effect for cutting off peripheral light rays, and blocks external light, and at least the image-forming lens forms a connection. An image pickup device comprising a substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts imaged light and outputs an image signal is mounted, wherein the holder and the substrate are integrated, and the holder and the imaging lens are integrated. An imaging device having a predetermined gap formed between them. 2. The image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the photoelectric conversion element is a bare chip. 3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photoelectric conversion element is arranged on a surface of the substrate opposite to a surface on which the imaging lens is arranged. 4. The focal length of the imaging lens is 5 mm or less, the diagonal length of the photoelectric conversion element is 4 mm or less, and the end from the light incident side end to the imaging lens end The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the thickness up to the part is 9 mm or less. 5. The holder and the imaging lens are made of synthetic resin, and the holder has a leg portion that defines a distance between the imaging lens and the photoelectric conversion element, and the holder with respect to a temperature change at room temperature. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a difference between a change in focal length of the imaging lens and a change in length of the leg is within a range of a depth of focus of the imaging lens. 6. The number of the imaging lens is one, and the focal length f thereof is the length L of the long side of the image pickup surface of the photoelectric conversion element.
2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when h and a predetermined constant are A, B, and C, they are set so as to satisfy the following expression A × Lh ^C <f <B × Lh ^C. . 7. An exterior holder provided with at least one image forming lens for forming an image of light and having a diaphragm effect for cutting off peripheral light rays, and for cutting off external light, and at least the image forming lens. An image pickup device comprising: a substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts imaged light and outputs an image signal is mounted, wherein the holder is integrated with the substrate and is transparent to form the imaging lens. An image pickup device, characterized in that a light-shielding film that blocks peripheral light rays is formed on the material. 8. An exterior holder, which has at least one imaging lens for imaging light and has a diaphragm effect for blocking peripheral light rays and blocks external light, and at least the imaging lens. An image pickup device comprising: a substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts imaged light and outputs an image signal is mounted, wherein the holder is integrated with the substrate and is transparent to form the imaging lens. An image pickup device, characterized in that the material of (1) is coated with a sheet that blocks peripheral light rays. 9. An exterior holder, which has at least one imaging lens for imaging light and has a diaphragm effect for blocking ambient light rays and blocks external light, and at least the imaging lens. An image pickup device comprising a substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts imaged light and outputs an image signal is mounted, wherein the holder and the substrate are integrated, and the imaging lens for a point light source, The half-value width of the response on the photoelectric conversion element, the imaging lens has a predetermined spherical aberration, so as to be larger than the pixel pitch of the photoelectric conversion element, and,
The image pickup apparatus, wherein the photoelectric conversion element is arranged at a position deviated from a focus position of the imaging lens by a predetermined distance. 10. An exterior holder provided with at least one image forming lens for forming an image of light, which has a diaphragm effect for cutting off peripheral light rays and blocks external light, and at least the image forming lens. An image pickup apparatus comprising: a substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts imaged light and outputs an image signal is mounted, wherein the holder is integrated with the substrate, and the photoelectric conversion element is an image pickup device. A surface is arranged in the middle of the curved image surface of the imaging lens, and the imaging lens obtains a predetermined amount of defocus at the intersection of the curved image surface of the imaging lens and the imaging surface. An imaging device characterized in that 11. An exterior holder provided with at least one image forming lens for forming an image of light and having a diaphragm effect for cutting off peripheral light rays, and for shutting off external light, and at least the image forming lens. An image pickup device comprising a substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts imaged light and outputs an image signal is mounted, wherein the holder is integrated with the substrate, and the imaging lens is on a center line. An imaging device having a discontinuous surface. 12. At least one imaging lens to image the light is provided, having a throttling effect of blocking peripheral rays, and exterior of the holder to block the external light, at least, binding by the imaging lens A substrate on which a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts the imaged light and outputs an image signal is mounted, the holder and the substrate are integrated, and the imaging lens is made of a transparent material together with the legs. Configure the lens part,
The image pickup apparatus, wherein the leg portion has a cutout portion, and the cutout portion is fitted in four corner portions of the photoelectric conversion element.