JPH05343657A - Solid-state image sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a solid-state image sensor having a signal charge detector which can cope with two or more types of television systems. CONSTITUTION:A solid-state image sensor comprises a photoelectric converter 1 having 768 of horizontal pixels and 600 of vertical pixels disposed in a two-dimensional manner, an optical black part 2, a vertical transfer unit 3 for transferring signal charge generated in the converter 1 in a vertical direction, a horizontal transfer unit 4 for transferring signal charge transferred from the unit 3 in a horizontal direction, a first signal charge detector 5 provided at one end of the unit 4, and a second signal charge detector 6 provided on the way of the unit 5. The detector 6 is mounted at a position corresponding to 640 pixels of the horizontal direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a solid-state image pickup device which is compatible with a plurality of types of television systems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Currently, NT is the color television system.
Various systems such as SC, PAL, and SECAM are adopted in each country, and in particular, the number of vertical scanning lines is roughly classified into 525 lines represented by NTSC and 625 lines of PAL and SECAM. Therefore, when a solid-state image pickup device is used in the photoelectric conversion part of a video camera when developing a video camera compatible with various color television systems for each country, it is for 525 vertical scanning lines (hereinafter NTS).
It was necessary to develop two types, one for C) and one for 625 vertical scanning lines (hereinafter referred to as PAL).

[0003]

However, as described above, when developing a video camera compatible with various color television systems, it is necessary to develop a solid-state imaging device compatible with each system and having a different number of vertical scanning lines. Not
There was a problem that it took a development period. Therefore,
An object of the present invention is to provide a solid-state image pickup device including a signal charge detection unit capable of supporting two or more types of television systems with one solid-state image pickup device.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a solid-state image pickup device comprising: a photoelectric conversion section arranged two-dimensionally; a vertical transfer section for vertically transferring a signal charge generated in the photoelectric conversion section; A horizontal transfer unit that transfers the signal charges transferred from the transfer unit in the horizontal direction, and a first transfer unit provided at one end of the horizontal transfer unit.
Signal detection section and a second signal charge detection section provided in the middle of the horizontal transfer section.

According to another aspect of the solid-state imaging device of the present invention, a photoelectric conversion unit arranged two-dimensionally, a vertical transfer unit for vertically transferring signal charges generated in the photoelectric conversion unit, and one end of the vertical transfer unit are provided. A second horizontal transfer unit having a different number of stages from the provided first horizontal transfer unit and the first horizontal transfer unit provided at the other end of the vertical transfer unit, and each end of the first and second horizontal transfer units. And a first and second signal charge detection section provided in the section.

[0006]

According to the structure of the first aspect, the first and second signal charge detection units are provided at one end of the horizontal transfer unit for horizontally transferring the signal charges transferred from the vertical transfer unit and in the middle of the horizontal transfer unit. Is provided, and the second signal charge detection unit provided in the middle of the horizontal transfer unit is set at a position corresponding to an appropriate pixel portion in the horizontal direction of the photoelectric conversion unit, whereby the first or first By detecting the signal charges from the second signal charge detection unit, it is possible to obtain outputs corresponding to various scanning line systems.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first horizontal transfer section and the second horizontal transfer section for horizontally transferring the signal charges transferred from the vertical transfer section are provided at both ends of the vertical transfer section. And, by appropriately changing the number of transfer stages,
When the signal charge is detected by the first or second signal charge detection unit from the first horizontal transfer unit or the second horizontal transfer unit, it is possible to obtain an output corresponding to various scanning line systems.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an element structure of a solid-state imaging device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This solid-state image pickup device is transferred from a two-dimensionally arranged photoelectric conversion unit 1, an optical black portion 2, a vertical transfer unit 3 for vertically transferring signal charges generated in the photoelectric conversion unit 1, and a vertical transfer unit 3. A horizontal transfer unit 4 for horizontally transferring the signal charge, a first signal charge detection unit 5 provided at one end of the horizontal transfer unit 4, and a second signal charge detection unit 6 provided in the middle of the horizontal transfer unit 5. It is composed of

In the solid-state image pickup device shown in FIG. 1, the number of pixels in the horizontal direction of the photoelectric conversion unit 1 arranged two-dimensionally is 768.
The number of pixels in the vertical direction is 600 pixels. The optical black portion 2 has 40 pixels. Therefore, the number of transfer stages of the horizontal transfer unit 4 is 808 when the photoelectric conversion unit 1 and the optical black portion 2 are combined. As shown in FIG. 1, the second signal charge detection unit 6 provided in the middle of the horizontal transfer unit 5 is installed at a position corresponding to 640 pixels in the horizontal direction of the photoelectric conversion unit 1. This uses all pixels (768 pixels in the horizontal direction and 600 pixels in the vertical direction) for PAL, while 4:
When two-dimensionally arranged so as to have an aspect ratio of 3, the horizontal aspect ratio is set to 4: 3 when the vertical aspect ratio is 500 pixels for NTSC.

With this configuration, the horizontal transfer section 4
From the first signal charge detection unit 5 provided at one end of the PAL
The output of the solid-state imaging device for NTSC can be obtained from the second signal charge detection unit 6 provided in the horizontal transfer unit 4. By installing a plurality of second signal charge detectors 6 at positions corresponding to appropriate horizontal pixels, outputs corresponding to various scanning line systems can be obtained. [Second Embodiment] FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an element structure of a solid-state image pickup device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. This solid-state image pickup device is different from that of the first embodiment in that the optical black portions 1 are provided on both sides of the photoelectric conversion portion 1 arranged two-dimensionally.
1, 12 are arranged, and a first horizontal transfer unit 13 and a second horizontal transfer unit 14 for horizontally transferring the signal charges transferred from the vertical transfer unit 2 are provided at both ends of the vertical transfer unit 2. That is, the first signal charge detection unit 15 and the second signal charge detection unit 16 are provided at the ends of the first and second horizontal transfer units 13 and 14, respectively.

In the solid-state image pickup device shown in FIG. 2, the number of pixels in the horizontal direction of the photoelectric conversion section 1 arranged two-dimensionally is the first.
768 pixels, and the number of pixels in the vertical direction is 60
The number of pixels is 0, and the optical black portions 11 and 12 are 40 pixels. In addition, the number of transfer stages of the first horizontal transfer unit 13 is 808 in total for the photoelectric conversion unit 1 and the optical black portion 11.

On the other hand, the signal charge detection unit 16 at the end of the second horizontal transfer unit 14 is installed at a position corresponding to 640 pixels in the horizontal direction of the photoelectric conversion unit 1, as shown in FIG. .. This is because when all pixels (horizontal 768 pixels, vertical 600 pixels) are arranged two-dimensionally so that the aspect ratio is 4: 3 for PAL, the vertical 5 for NTSC.
It is set as the number of horizontal pixels which makes the aspect ratio 4: 3 when taking 00 pixels. Therefore, the second
The horizontal transfer unit 14 has a total of 680 stages including 640 pixels of the photoelectric conversion unit 1 and 40 pixels of the optical black portion 12.

With this configuration, the vertical transfer unit 3
The output of the solid-state imaging device for PAL can be obtained from the horizontal transfer unit 13 provided at one end side, and the NTS can be obtained from the horizontal transfer unit 14 provided at the other end side of the vertical transfer unit 3.
The output of the solid-state imaging device for C can be obtained.
As described above, according to the solid-state image pickup device of the embodiment of the present invention, one device can configure the signal charge detection unit corresponding to each of two or more types of television systems, and can correspond to various scanning line systems. You can Therefore, when developing a video camera compatible with each television system,
As the fixed image pickup device, a solid-state image pickup device that can be used commonly for various devices such as NTSC and PAL can be used, and the development period of the video camera can be significantly shortened.

[0014]

According to the solid-state image pickup device of the present invention, the position of the signal charge detection unit provided in the middle of the horizontal transfer unit is set to a position corresponding to an appropriate pixel portion in the horizontal direction of the photoelectric conversion unit, or An output corresponding to various scanning line systems is provided by providing a first horizontal transfer unit and a second horizontal transfer unit that horizontally transfer the signal charges transferred from the vertical transfer unit, and appropriately changing the number of transfer stages. Can be obtained. For this reason,
One solid-state imaging device can be commonly used for different television systems.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an element configuration of a solid-state imaging device which is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an element configuration of a solid-state imaging device which is a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photoelectric conversion part 2 Optical black part 3 Vertical transfer part 4 Horizontal transfer part 5 1st signal charge detection part 6 2nd signal charge detection part 11, 12 Optical black part 13 1st horizontal transfer part 14 2nd Horizontal transfer unit 15 First signal charge detection unit 16 Second signal charge detection unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A two-dimensionally arranged photoelectric conversion unit, a vertical transfer unit for vertically transferring the signal charges generated in the photoelectric conversion unit, and a horizontal direction for transferring the signal charges transferred from the vertical transfer unit. A solid-state imaging device comprising: a horizontal transfer unit for transferring, a first signal detection unit provided at one end of the horizontal transfer unit, and a second signal detection unit provided in the middle of the horizontal transfer unit. 2. A two-dimensionally arranged photoelectric conversion unit, a vertical transfer unit for vertically transferring signal charges generated in the photoelectric conversion unit, and a first horizontal unit provided at one end of the vertical transfer unit. The transfer unit and the first unit provided at the other end of the vertical transfer unit.
Solid-state imaging device including a second horizontal transfer unit having a different number of stages from the horizontal transfer unit, and first and second signal charge detection units provided at respective ends of the first and second horizontal transfer units. apparatus.