Low light level solid state image sensor

Claim 1

A broad band solid state image sensing system for sensing very low level visible and near infrared image radiation up to and beyond 1 μm wavelength for producing output signals representative of said image radiation comprising: a high gain avalanche amorphous photoconductive means responsive to visible input image radiation for generating output signals in response to said visible input image radiation and a solid state MIS or a diode detector responsive to near infrared input image radiation for producing output signals in response to said near infrared input image radiation; a high gain pixel level current, voltage charge amplification means including at least one pixel amplifier connected to said photoconductive means for amplifying said output signals from said photoconductive means, said pixel level amplification means including a junction device means, a detector junction capacitance CD, at least one memory capacitor CM for storing voltage gain, and a reset means for resetting said memory capacitor CM, and a dark signal temporal noise suppression circuit means connected to said high gain pixel level amplification means and responsive to said amplified signal therefrom for providing an output signal with suppressed noise components, said temporal noise suppression means including a differential amplifier for providing correlated double sampling between black level signal and light level signal.