A/D conversion circuit and image pick-up device

An A/D conversion circuit, comprising:

• a reference signal generation unit that generates a reference signal increasing or decreasing through time;
• a comparison unit that compares an analog signal to be subject to A/D conversion with the reference signal, and completes a comparison process at a timing at which the reference signal has satisfied a predetermined condition with respect to the analog signal;
• a delay circuit that has a plurality of delay elements connected to one another to delay a pulse signal, and outputs a lower phase signal including output signals from the plurality of delay elements;
• a latch unit that latches a first lower phase signal at a first timing and then latches a second lower phase signal at a second timing, the first timing corresponding to a timing at which the comparison process for a first analog signal is completed, the second timing corresponding to a timing at which the comparison process for a second analog signal is completed;
• an arithmetic circuit that generates a first lower count signal according to the first lower phase signal held by the latch unit, and generates a second lower count signal according to the second lower phase signal held by the latch unit;
• a lower counter including a first binary counter that performs counting using the first lower count signal as a count clock and outputs a first upper count clock to acquire a first lower count value, inverts values of respective bits constituting the first lower count value, and performs counting using the second lower count signal as a count clock and outputs a second upper count clock to acquire a second lower count value;
• and
• an upper counter including a second binary counter that performs counting using the count clock based on one of the output signals constituting the first lower phase signal output from the delay circuit as a count clock, performs counting based on the first upper count clock to acquire a first upper count value, inverts values of respective bits constituting the first upper count value, performs counting using the count clock based on one of the output signals constituting the second lower phase signal output from the delay circuit as a count clock, and performs counting based on the second upper count clock to acquire a second upper count value, and having a data protection function for protecting an upper count value held by the second binary counter at the time of count clock switching,
• wherein digital data corresponding to a difference between the first analog signal and the second analog signal is acquired.