Improved Picture Quality Technologies Support High-Speed CMOS Sensors Ultrahigh-Speed High Picture Quality CMOS Sensors Using Column-Parallel A/D Conversion

*1: CDS: Correlated double sampling CMOS sensors are now widely used in cellular phones and other mobile devices, and as a result, sales of these devices have been increasing rapidly. Furthermore, demand for CMOS sensors has been increasing in fields that require high-speed imaging functions, such as digital singlelens reflex cameras. While CMOS sensor advantages over CCD include lower power consumption and higher speed, their main strength is in the possibilities for system integration, since analog and digital circuits can be integrated on the same chip. CMOS sensor can achieve high-speed characteristics that could not be achieved with CCD technology and can provide superb image quality that surpasses that of CCDs by taking advantage of these characteristics. Sony has now implemented a CMOS sensor that achieves both high-speed image readout and improved image quality by taking advantage of these CMOS sensor characteristics and integrating columnparallel A/D converters on the same chip. This CMOS sensor can read out 2.8Mpixel images at the speed of 180 frame/s. Furthermore, this device achieves noise levels comparable to those of CCD image sensors at the same time as providing this high-speed readout. This article presents the high-speed imaging technology based on column-parallel A/D conversion and the noise reduction technology used in this device.