Patent ID: 7470882

Claim:
A method for reading a pixel at the intersection of a first row and a first column in an imager integrated circuit array, comprising: (a) selecting the first row to transfer charge from each of the pixels along the first row to their associated columns, (b) within a sensing cycle, coupling the charge on each of the columns to a sensing capacitor associated with each column, and later coupling each column to a reference capacitor associated with each column, wherein the sampling capacitor and the reference capacitor associated with each column comprises a pair; (c) selecting the first column by coupling the sensing capacitor and the reference capacitor for the first column to an amplifier to produce a normalized indication of the charge at the pixel, wherein a plurality of pairs of sensing and reference capacitors are located at a first edge of the array, and are stacked above a plurality of columns each pair services in a direction parallel to the plurality of columns.