Patent ID: 6734906
Filing Date: 2004-05-11
Classification: H01L,H04N

Abstract:
An image pickup apparatus including a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions which are arranged two-dimensionally in row and column directions so as to arrange a plurality of unit cells, each of which includes at least two photoelectric conversion portions arranged in the row direction and a common circuit to which signals from the at least two photoelectric conversion portions are input, said image pickup apparatus comprising:a plurality of noise removal circuits, each of which is provided in common to at least two columns of the photoelectric conversion portions to remove a noise component included in an image signal from the unit cell; a plurality of signal holding means which are arranged so that the same number of the signal holding means as that of the columns of the photoelectric conversion portions, connected in common to the noise removal circuit, are provided to each noise removal circuit to hold the image signals output from the noise removal circuit; a common output line to which signals from said plurality of signal holding means are read out sequentially; and a scanning circuit which is arranged to cause said plurality of signal holding means to output the signals therefrom to said common output line.