Patent ID: 9497396
Filing Date: 2016-11-15
CPC Classification: H01L,H04N

Claim Text:
1. An imaging apparatus comprising: a photo-electro conversion unit on a substrate; a transfer switching unit on the substrate at one side of the photo-electro conversion unit; a storage region on the substrate at one side of the transfer switching unit; a plurality of pixels including a reset switching unit on the substrate at one side of the storage region; and a control circuit reading a signal level and a reset signal level and applying a signal to the transfer switching unit and the reset switching unit, wherein the control circuit reads an overflow signal level transferred to the storage region from the photo-electro conversion unit, wherein the control circuit applies the signal to the transfer switching unit and the reset switching unit so that the reset switching unit is turned off after the transfer switching unit is turned off during a flush step, wherein overflow charges generated from the photo-electro conversion unit are not discarded, but the overflow signal level is read, wherein the signal level is obtained through a single exposure, wherein the imaging apparatus has an output signal as a function of a light intensity of a pixel array, and wherein the output signal has a first section, in which a linear signal level is detected until it reaches a maximum capacity of the photo-electro conversion unit, and second and third sections, in which the signal level represents a linear characteristic in an early stage and then represents a log characteristic converged to an asymptotic line after the reset switching unit has been turned on.