Patent ID: 6476867
Filing Date: 2002-11-05
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A driving method for a photoelectric conversion apparatus comprising:a photoelectric conversion element having first and second electrodes; and mode switching means for performing a refresh operation for said photoelectric conversion element by switching between a first refresh mode of setting a potential of said first electrode to be higher than a potential of said second electrode, and a second refresh mode of setting the potential of said first electrode to be lower than the potential of said second electrode, wherein said photoelectric conversion element is formed by depositing, on an insulating substrate, a first electrode layer, a first insulating layer for inhibiting passage of carriers of a first type and carriers of a second type having a polarity opposite to that of the carriers of the first type, a photoelectric conversion semiconductor layer, an injection inhibiting layer for inhibiting the carriers of the first type from being injected into the semiconductor layer, and a second layer, said apparatus further comprising refresh mode operation means operating in the first refresh mode of applying an electric field to each layer to set (VrGq)VDâˆ’VFB)qâ€ƒâ€ƒ(1) â€ƒwhere VrG is the voltage of the first electrode layer of said photoelectric conversion element, q is the charge of a carrier of the first type, VD is the voltage of the second electrode layer, and VFB is a threshold voltage, and operating in the second refresh mode of applying an electric field to set (VrGq)&gE;(VDâˆ’VFB)qâ€ƒâ€ƒ(2), â€ƒsaid mode switching means switching between the first and second refresh modes and causing said apparatus to operate in one of the modes, wherein switching is performed to set the first refresh mode of applying an electric field to each layer to set (VrGq)Dâˆ’VFB)qâ€ƒâ€ƒ(1) â€ƒwhen a still image is to be obtained, and switching is performed to set the second refresh mode of applying an electric field to set (VrGq)&gE;(VDâˆ’VFB)qâ€ƒâ€ƒ(2) â€ƒwhen a moving image is to be obtained.