Patent ID: 7388611

Claim:
A solid-state image-taking system comprising a solid-state image-taking apparatus for outputting electric charge read from a light-to-electric conversion unit, and a driving apparatus for driving the solid-state image-taking apparatus, the solid-state image-taking apparatus including: a semiconductor substrate of a first type which is either an n-type or a p-type; a well of a second type formed on the semiconductor substrate, the second type being either the n-type or the p-type and different from the first type; the light-to-electric conversion unit which, being the first type and formed in the well, is operable to generate and store electric charge that depends, in amount, on an amount of received light; a charge storage unit which, being the first type and formed in the well, is operable to store electric charge temporarily; and a gate unit which, being the second type and formed between the light-to-electric conversion unit and the charge storage unit in the well, is operable to move the electric charge from the light-to-electric conversion unit to the charge storage unit when a read voltage is applied to a gate electrode, the driving apparatus including: a read voltage control unit operable to not apply the read voltage to the gate electrode during a storage period in which the light-to-electric conversion unit generates and stores the electric charge that depends, in amount, on the amount of the received light, then to apply the read voltage to the gate electrode during a read period; and a reverse bias voltage control unit operable to apply a stationary reverse bias voltage steadily to the semiconductor substrate to cause electric charge excessively stored in the light-to-electric conversion unit to overflow to a side of the semiconductor substrate, and not to the charge storage unit, and operable to apply, during part or all of the read period, a specific reverse bias voltage that raises a potential barrier between the semiconductor substrate and the well to be higher than a height thereof when the reverse bias voltage control unit applies the stationary reverse bias voltage.