Photoelectric conversion apparatus, imaging system, and moving object
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYasuharu Ota
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A photoelectric conversion apparatus includes a photodiode, a counter, a control circuit. The photodiode is configured to cause avalanche multiplication. The counter is configured to generate a count signal as a result of counting a pulse generated by the avalanche multiplication during a predetermined period. The control circuit is configured to perform control to bring the photodiode into a waiting state in which the avalanche multiplication is possible and a stop state in which the avalanche multiplication is stopped, based on the count signal during a predetermined period.
Claims13
A photoelectric conversion apparatus comprising:
- a photodiode to which a first voltage and a second voltage are supplied, the photodiode being an avalanche-multiplication-type photodiode;
- a counter configured to count a pulse generated at the photodiode, and hold a count value;
- a control circuit configured to control the first voltage to be supplied to the photodiode;
- and
- a correction unit configured to correct the count value output from the counter,
- wherein a signal input into the control circuit has a first level at which the first voltage is supplied to the photodiode via the control circuit and a second level at which the first voltage is not supplied to the photodiode, and
- wherein, in a case where the count value output from the counter exceeds a threshold value, the correction unit corrects a count value at which a gradient of the count value with respect to a number of photons incident on the photodiode in a range exceeding the threshold value falls in a range different from a gradient a of the count value with respect to a number of photons until the count value reaches the threshold value so as to match the gradient a.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.