Patent ID: 8357956

Claim:
A solid-state imaging apparatus, adapted to perform a vertical overflow drain operation, comprising: a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type; and a plurality of pixels arranged in a pixel region of the semiconductor substrate, each pixel including a photoelectric conversion region and an amplifying transistor for amplifying a signal based on signal carriers generated in the photoelectric conversion region and for outputting an amplified signal, wherein the pixel region includes: a first semiconductor region of the first conductivity type for forming a part of the photoelectric conversion region, a second semiconductor region of the first conductivity type, provided separately from the first semiconductor region, for accumulating the carriers generated in the first semiconductor region, a third semiconductor region of a second conductivity type arranged under the second semiconductor region, as a potential barrier holding the accumulated carriers in the second semiconductor region, a fourth semiconductor region of the second conductivity type extending between the first semiconductor region and the semiconductor substrate, and between the third semiconductor region and the semiconductor substrate, and a first voltage supply portion for supplying, to the third semiconductor region, a reference voltage for suppressing a variation in potential in the third semiconductor region due to the vertical overflow drain operation.