Patent ID: 7336305

Claim:
A solid-state image capturing device, comprising: a pixel array arranged in a row direction and a column direction which is orthogonal thereto; a vertical register including a plurality of transfer electrodes in which a signal charge generated by light acceptance of each pixel is read and is sequentially transferred in the column direction upon receipt of a transfer pulse; a horizontal register for receiving the signal charge transferred by the vertical register and transferring the signal charge in a horizontal direction; and an output section for outputting the signal charge transferred by the horizontal register, wherein a first set of electrode terminals for generating continuously a plural K electric potential wells (K is an integer of not less than 2) storing signal charges in the vertical register upon receipt of the transfer pulse, and a second set of electrode terminals for generating a smear electric potential well storing a smear charge are provided as electrode terminals for cyclically transmitting the transfer pulse to each of the transfer electrodes, said smear electric potential well being arranged after said plural K electric potential wells, and wherein at least one transfer electrode is configured to receive, from a corresponding photoreceptor of the pixel array, both signal charges and smear charges, wherein the smear charges from the corresponding photoreceptor are received in isolation from the signal charges.