Patent ID: 8183604

Claim:
A solid state image pickup device, comprising: a plurality of photodiodes, each including a semiconductor region of a first conductivity type for accumulating a signal charge generated by incident light; and a plurality of amplifying MOS transistors, each for receiving a signal from the photodiode at a gate electrode thereof, wherein: each amplifying MOS transistor has a source region and a drain region of the first conductivity type in a first semiconductor region of the first conductivity type, the source region and the drain region of the amplifying MOS transistor being separate from the semiconductor regions of the plurality of photodiodes, and for each amplifying MOS transistor, the first semiconductor region has an impurity concentration lower than that of the source region and the drain region, and the device further comprising a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type at least under the gate electrode of the amplifying MOS transistor, and a third semiconductor region of the first conductivity type having an impurity concentration higher than that of the first semiconductor region formed at a channel region of the amplifying MOS transistor, and each amplifying MOS transistor is a buried channel MOS transistor.