The disclosure relates to a demodulator including a pinned photodiode, at least one storage node, at least one transfer gate connected between the storage node and the pinned photodiode. The pinned photodiode includes a p-doped epitaxial semiconductor layer, a n-doped semiconductor region formed within the epitaxial semiconductor layer and creating therewith a lower junction and at least one lateral junction substantially perpendicular to the lower junction, a p+ pinning layer formed on top of said semiconductor region. The demodulator further includes a generating unit configured to generate minority and majority carriers at said lateral junction and to form a lateral photodiode.

In an imaging device, a photoelectric converter of a first pixel and a photoelectric converter of a second pixel are arranged along a first direction. At least part of a charge accumulation portion of the first pixel is disposed between the photoelectric converter of the first pixel and the photoelectric converter of the second pixel. An exit surface of a light guiding path of the first pixel is longer in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction in plan view than in the first direction.

To prevent leakage of incident light from pixels around a pixel region (11) of a light receiving element. A light receiving element includes a pixel region and an adjacent pixel (400). In the pixel region, a plurality of pixels (100) is arranged, the plurality of pixels including a photodiode formed in a semiconductor substrate (110) in which a charge generated by photoelectric conversion of incident light is multiplied with a high reverse bias voltage, an on-chip lens (160) that focuses the incident light on the photodiode, and a wiring region (120) having a wiring layer (122) connected to the photodiode and an insulating layer (121) that insulates the wiring layer. The adjacent pixel is arranged adjacent to the pixel region and includes the photodiode, an on-chip lens (161) having a curvature different from a curvature of the on-chip lens, and the wiring region.

A light receiving element that has a structure in which p-n junctions contact the interface between a compound semiconductor material and an insulating film and that can reduce a dark current is provided. A light receiving element includes a plurality of pixels. Each of the plurality of pixels includes a light absorption layer that has a first surface from which light enters and that includes a compound semiconductor material, a first-conductivity-type first semiconductor layer that is provided on a side of a second surface of the light absorption layer, the second surface being opposite to the first surface, and has bandgap energy greater than that of the light absorption layer, a second-conductivity-type selection region that is provided in such a manner as to reach the light absorption layer from a second surface of the first semiconductor layer, the second surface being opposite to a first surface on a side of the light absorption layer, and contacts the first semiconductor layer, a first insulating film that is provided on a side of the second surface of the first semiconductor layer and contacts the first semiconductor layer and the selection region, and a first electrode provided, for each of the pixels, on the side of the second surface of the first semiconductor layer. The first insulating film has a non-volatile electric charge with a same polarity as that of one of the semiconductor layer and the selection region that has a higher mobile charge density.

Noise, color mixture, and the like are suppressed while reducing a restriction on layout disposition. An imaging apparatus includes a semiconductor substrate, a photoelectric conversion unit which is provided in the semiconductor substrate and generates charge corresponding to the amount of received light by photoelectric conversion, a charge holding unit which is disposed on a side closer to a first surface of the semiconductor substrate than to the photoelectric conversion unit, and holds the charge transferred from the photoelectric conversion unit, a charge transfer unit which transfers the charge from the photoelectric conversion unit to the charge holding unit, a vertical electrode which is disposed in a depth direction of the semiconductor substrate, the vertical electrode transmitting the charge generated by the photoelectric conversion unit to the charge transfer unit, and a first light control member which is disposed at a position overlapping the vertical electrode when the semiconductor substrate is seen in a plan view from a normal direction of the first surface, and is provided in a pixel region without straddling a boundary between pixels.

A pixel circuit for background light suppression includes: a 2-tap pixel circuit including first and second pixel capacitors, first and second storage switches, and first and second transfer switches; an in-pixel sigma delta circuit including a plurality of switching switches and a storage capacitor for storing charge transferred from the first and second pixel capacitors; an adaptive sigma delta controller configured to determine switching states of the plurality of switching switches according to a first state of the first pixel capacitor, or a second state of the second pixel capacitor, or both; and a chopping controller configured to instruct the storage switches and the transfer switches of the 2-tap pixel circuit to be selectively switched according to an output of the adaptive sigma delta controller.

An imaging device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a first photoelectric converter which is disposed in the semiconductor substrate; a second photoelectric converter different from the first photoelectric converter, which is disposed in the semiconductor substrate; a wiring layer disposed on or above the semiconductor substrate; and a capacitor which is disposed in the wiring layer and surrounds the first photoelectric converter in plan view. The capacitor includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a dielectric layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. The first electrode is connected to one of the first photoelectric converter and the second photoelectric converter.

The present technology relates to an imaging device of global shutter type, and relates to an imaging device and electronic equipment capable of inhibiting interference between a photoelectric conversion unit and an element that holds charge that has been transferred from the photoelectric conversion unit. An imaging device includes, in a pixel: a photoelectric conversion unit; a charge transfer unit; an electrode that is used to transfer charge from the photoelectric conversion unit to the charge transfer unit; a charge-voltage conversion unit; and a charge drain unit. Here, the charge transfer unit is allowed to transfer charge in a first transfer direction to the charge-voltage conversion unit and a second transfer direction to the charge drain unit. The present technology can be applied to, for example, a CMOS image sensor of global shutter type.

An imaging device 100 includes a pixel array PA. A first period, a third period, and a second period appear in this order in one frame. During the first period, pixel signal readout is performed on at least one first row in the pixel array PA. During the second period, pixel signal readout is performed on at least one second row in the pixel array PA. At least one of the at least one first row or the at least one second row includes two rows in the pixel array PA. During the third period, no pixel signal readout is performed on the rows in the pixel array PA. Each of the first period and the second period is one of the high-sensitivity exposure period and the low-sensitivity exposure period. The third period is the other of the high-sensitivity exposure period and the low-sensitivity exposure period.

A light detecting device includes a photoelectric conversion unit configured to generate a photoelectric charge, a first charge holding unit that includes a first capacitive element and holds the photoelectric charge generated by the photoelectric conversion unit, a second charge holding unit configured to hold the photoelectric charge transferred from the first charge holding unit, a first transistor arranged on a wiring connecting the first charge holding unit and the second charge holding unit to transfer the photoelectric charge held in the first charge holding unit to the second charge holding unit, and a second transistor configured to cause a pixel signal of a voltage value corresponding to a charge amount of the photoelectric charge held in the second charge holding unit to appear on a signal line.