Provided is a weak-signal reading circuit for a sensor, comprising a sensing signal input amplifying unit and a signal reading unit. The sensing signal input amplifying unit comprises a first transistor, wherein a gate and a drain of the first transistor are connected with a sensor; the signal reading unit is connected to a source of the first transistor, the first transistor is turned on when the sensor generates a sensing signal, so that the sensing signal is captured by the signal reading unit. When the sensor senses a signal and generates a voltage, the first transistor tends to be switched on, then the signal reading unit reads the sensing signal through the first transistor which has been turned on, that is, by providing the first transistor, the weak-signal reading circuit for sensor can be self-driven according to the voltage generated by the sensor without an extra drive circuit, thereby achieving low power consumption.

A sub-ranging programmable gain amplifier resolves an incoming signal into one of multiple amplitude sub-ranges and dynamically steps down the PGA output according to the identified sub-range.

An amplifier includes a first capacitor connected between an input node and a floating node, a second capacitor connected between the floating node and an output node, an amplifying element connected between a power supply voltage and the output node and operating in response to a voltage level of the floating node, a current bias source connected between the output node and a ground voltage, a first reset switch connected between the floating node and an intermediate node and operating in response to a reset bias, a second reset switch connected between the intermediate node and the output node and operating in response to the reset bias, and a reset bias generator circuit that outputs the reset bias in response to a reset signal. The reset bias is one of a reset voltage of the intermediate node, the power supply voltage, and the ground voltage.

A shaper circuit includes a first amplifier including an input and an output, the input being configured to receive an input signal, which includes one or more current pulses, a feedback component coupled to the output and to the input of the first amplifier thereby forming a feedback loop of the first amplifier, and an RC component coupled to the output of the first amplifier and to a reference potential terminal. Therein the shaper circuit is configured to provide an output signal as a function of the input signal, the output signal including one or more voltage pulses, and the RC component is configured to largely cancel a low frequency pole of the feedback loop of the first amplifier.

Multi-stage auto-zeroing signal amplifiers are deployed within event-shuttering pixels of a quanta image sensor (QIS) pixel array to enable reliable per-pixel reporting of photonic events, down to resolution of a single photon strike, for each of a continuous sequence of sub-microsecond event-detection intervals.

The present technology relates to a comparator that can easily modify operating point potential of the comparator, and an imaging device. A pixel signal output from a pixel, and, a reference signal with changeable voltage are input to a differential pair. A current mirror connected to the differential pair, and a voltage drop mechanism allowed to cause a predetermined voltage drop is connected between a transistor that configures the differential pair, and a transistor that configures the current mirror. A switch is connected in parallel to the voltage drop mechanism. The present technology can be applied, for example, to an image sensor that captures an image.

An apparatus includes a differential current-to-voltage conversion circuit that includes an input sampling stage circuit, a differential integration and DC signal cancellation stage circuit, and an amplification and accumulator stage circuit. An input common mode voltage of the differential current-to-voltage circuit is independent of an output common mode voltage of the differential current-to-voltage circuit.

There is provided a device that includes a MOS transistor and a bias circuit coupled to the MOS transistor. The bias circuit is configured to bias the MOS transistor thereby maintaining the MOS transistor outside of saturation. The MOS transistor is configured to operate as a buffer or an amplifier, while being outside of saturation.

An optical receiver includes a photodiode, a transimpedance amplifier (TIA), a slope detection circuit, and a logic circuit. The TIA includes an output stage and a feedback amplifier and is coupled to the photodiode. The slope detection circuit is coupled to the feedback amplifier and configured to monitor a feedback signal from the feedback amplifier. The slope detection circuit is configured to provide, in response to a slope in the feedback signal being detected, a first slope-status signal indicating the slope is detected. The logic circuit is coupled to the slope detection circuit and is coupled to the output stage of the TIA. The logic circuit is configured to squelch the output stage of the TIA in response to the first slope-status signal.

A transimpedance amplifier (TIA) device design is disclosed. Symmetric components include first and second resistors R.sub.i, R.sub.fb, R.sub.e, R.sub.m, R.sub.x, R.sub.c, and R.sub.l, and transistors Q1-Q4. An optional mixer or cascode adds transistors Q5-Q8. Values for resistor components R.sub.x provide extended feedback gain tuning in a TIA-based current amplifier or mixer implementations without greatly affecting the input impedance or requiring more attenuators. Example values for resistor components R.sub.x range from about 50 to about 350 ohms.