Patent ID: 8891978

Claim:
An information-acquisition device comprising: a sensor array in which a plurality of cells are arrayed; and a peripheral circuit configured to control an operation of each of the cells and to process signals transmitted from each of the cells, wherein at least one cell among the plurality of cells comprises a photoelectric-conversion accumulation element configured to generate and accumulate signal charges, a potential detection circuit configured to detect the signal charges generated by the photoelectric-conversion accumulation element as a potential change, and an amplification circuit configured to amplify the potential change and to transmit to an output-signal line, and the photoelectric-conversion accumulation element and the potential detection circuit are connected in series between a first potential terminal and a second potential terminal, and the potential detection circuit has an insulated-gate transistor, which is directly connected to the photoelectric-conversion accumulation element, the insulated-gate transistor configured to detect the potential change in a weak inversion state, in a period when an optical-communication signal is received.