Patent ID: 7623056

Claim:
A photoelectric conversion apparatus having a plurality of AD converters each provided for each of a plurality of pixels, the plurality of AD converters and the plurality of pixels being arranged in the same semiconductor substrate, wherein a signal line is provided for transmitting a signal from the plurality of pixels to the AD converter, the AD converter comprises: an arithmetic operation amplifying circuit unit for inputting as an input signal the signal from the signal line; a comparator circuit unit for comparing, with a reference signal, an output from the arithmetic operation amplifying circuit unit; a DA converted circuit unit for DA converting a signal based on a signal from the comparator circuit unit; and a sampling and holding unit arranged at an input section of the arithmetic operation amplifying circuit unit to hold the input signal of the arithmetic operation amplifying circuit unit, and the comparator circuit unit is arranged in a first region of the semiconductor substrate, the arithmetic operation amplifying circuit unit is arranged in a second region of the semiconductor substrate, and the DA converted circuit unit is arranged in a third region between the first and second regions of the semiconductor substrate.