Patent ID: 6861635

Claim:
A high voltage reset circuit with blooming control, the high voltage reset circuit comprises: a high voltage supply circuit for supplying a high supply voltage, the high supply voltage has a higher voltage level than an absolute maximum voltage of an associated CMOS fabrication process used for the CMOS image sensor; and a high voltage level shifter circuit arranged to receive the high supply voltage and configured to output a high reset signal, the high voltage level shifter circuit is coupled to a gate of a reset transistor in a pixel circuit of a pixel array, the gate receives the high reset signal and maintains a gate to source potential less than the absolute maximum voltage while a potential on a cathode of a photodiode, coupled to the reset transistor, charges up to a supply voltage of the associated CMOS fabrication process, the high voltage level shifter circuit includes a high voltage inverter arranged to raise the low level of the high reset signal by a predetermined voltage thereby preventing the photodiode from becoming forward biased.