AD converter, AD converter, photoelectric converter, imaging system, and AD conversion method

摘要

To solve the following problem: There are concerns that a dynamic range for an incident ray volume becomes insufficient and power consumption becomes large.SOLUTION: When the magnitude of an analog signal is under a threshold value, a comparator compares the analog signal to a first reference signal, thereby acquiring a digital signal of a p bit. When the magnitude of the analog signal is over the threshold value, the comparator compares the analog signal to a second reference signal having a larger change rate to time than a first reference signal, thereby acquiring a digital signal of q bit smaller than p bit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5