Patent ID: 8692177

Claim:
A solid-state imaging device comprising: an imager including pixels arranged in a matrix, each pixel including a pixel circuit converting light to a signal voltage; and analog to digital (AD) converters, each provided in each of columns of the pixels, and configured to convert the signal voltage read from the pixel arranged in the column to a digital value of n-bits, where n is a positive integer, wherein each of the AD converters includes: a comparator comparing the signal voltage to a reference signal, and outputting a comparison result signal, and a counter section including: a counter circuit having a first D flip-flop (DFF) for n-bits of which operation is controlled by a signal level of the comparison result signal, and a transfer circuit having a second DFF for n-bits holding a count value of the counter circuit once and then outputting the count value, the second DFFs provided in the columns are coupled in series to form a transfer section, and the transfer section outputs the signal voltage which has been converted to the digital value of n-bits.