Patent ID: 7053945

Claim:
An image sensor, comprising: a photosensitive region; a voltage boosting circuit, said voltage boosting circuit producing a boosted reset voltage on a reset line at a level higher than a power supply output voltage level, said voltage boosting circuit comprising a first capacitor, and first and second switching elements, wherein said capacitor is first precharged at one plate by said first switching element, and subsequently isolated at said one plate by said second switching element, and biased at the other plate to produce an output voltage which is increased to a boosted voltage related to an amount of said bias added to an amount of said precharge, wherein said second switching element is one which is not forward biased by a voltage that is greater than the power supply voltage; and a voltage protection circuit, said voltage protection circuit being connected to said reset line and protecting at least one transistor against being forward biased by said boosted reset voltage.