US Patent 7623169 Low noise charge gain hybrid imager

In one aspect of the present application, provided is a charge gain imaging system and a method of operating the charge gain imaging system. The method includes collecting a pixel charge. The collected pixel charge being stored by a pixel capacitance (Cp). Thereafter the pixel having the stored pixel charge is selected via a pixel select switch, and the pixel voltage is transferred and stored by data line capacitance (Cd) of a data line of the imager. An amplifier select switch is activated connecting the data line to a charge amplifier, and a charge gain defined by a relationship Cd/Cp, is sensed by a charge amplifier.