Patent ID: 7943905

Claim:
An infrared solid-state image sensor comprising: a semiconductor substrate; a pixel area comprising a sensitive pixel area where a plurality of infrared detection pixels are arranged in a matrix form to detect incident infrared rays on the semiconductor substrate and a reference pixel area where a plurality of reference pixels are provided, each of the infrared detection pixels comprising a thermoelectric conversion part, the thermoelectric conversion part comprising an infrared absorption film to absorb the incident infrared rays and convert the incident infrared rays to heat and a first thermoelectric conversion element to convert the heat obtained by the conversion in the infrared absorption film to a electric signal, each of the reference pixels comprising a second thermoelectric conversion element; a plurality of row selection lines provided in the pixel area so as to correspond to rows of the infrared detection pixels respectively, each of the row selection lines being connected to first ends of the first thermoelectric conversion elements in the infrared detection pixels on a corresponding row; a plurality of signal lines provided in the pixel area so as to correspond to columns of the infrared detection pixels respectively, each of the signal lines being connected to second ends of the first thermoelectric conversion elements in the infrared detection pixels on a corresponding column to read out an electric signal from an infrared detection pixel on the corresponding column as a signal potential; a reference potential line to which first ends of the second thermoelectric conversion elements respectively in the plurality of reference pixels are connected; a plurality of first constant current sources provided so as to correspond to columns of infrared detection pixels, each of the first constant current sources being connected to second ends of the first thermoelectric conversion elements in the infrared detection pixels on a corresponding column; a plurality of second constant current sources provided so as to correspond to the plurality of reference pixels, each of the second constant current sources being connected to the reference potential line; and a plurality of amplifiers provided so as to correspond to respective signal lines, each of the amplifiers amplifying a difference between the signal potential read out from a corresponding signal line and a reference potential supplied from the reference potential line.