Patent ID: 9081095
Filing Date: 2015-07-14
Classification: G01J,G01S,H01J

Abstract:
1. A range image sensor comprising: an imaging region which receives reflected light of radiated light to an object; and a driving circuit which drives the imaging region, wherein the imaging region comprises a plurality of pixels which are one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally arranged on a semiconductor substrate, each of the pixels includes: a photosensitive region, first and second accumulation regions adjacent to the photosensitive region, first and second transfer electrodes which respectively control charges flowing into the first and the second accumulation regions, a capacitor which is electrically connected between the first and the second accumulation regions, a first switch interposed between a first terminal of the capacitor and the first accumulation region, a second switch interposed between a second terminal of the capacitor and the second accumulation region, a third switch interposed between the second terminal of the capacitor and a reference potential, and a fourth switch interposed between the first terminal of the capacitor and the reference potential, and the driving circuit sets a reset period during which all the first, the second, the third, and the fourth switches are turned ON at the initial time of one cycle, setting alternately a first period and a second period within one cycle, turning both the first and the third switches ON and turning both the second and the fourth switches OFF in the first period, turning both the first and the third switches OFF and turning both the second and the fourth switches ON in the second period, and imparting to the first and the second transfer electrodes modulating signals which are in synchronization with a modulating signal of the radiated light and mutually reversed in phase within the one cycle.