Patent ID: 7012238

Claim:
An amplification-type solid-state image pickup device, comprising: a plurality of arrayed pixels, each of the pixels being composed of at least a photon-electron conversion region, a field effect transistor for signal amplification for amplifying signals expressed by potentials of the photon-electron conversion region, a field effect transistor for reset for discharging charges in the photon-electron conversion region to a drain, and a field effect transistor for pixel selection; and a control portion for executing control so that with respect to each frame in each of the pixels, there are repeated in the following order a signal level readout period in which a potential level of the photon-electron conversion region is read through the field effect transistor for signal amplification, a first reset period in which the field effect transistor for reset executes a soft reset operation with a sub-threshold current, a reset level readout period in which a potential level of the photon-electron conversion region reached by the soft reset operation in the first reset period is read through the field effect transistor for signal amplification, a second reset period in which the field effect transistor for reset executes a hard reset operation so as to fix the potential of the photon-electron conversion region to a drain potential, and a third reset period in which the field effect transistor for reset executes a soft reset operation with a sub-threshold current.