Patent ID: 7402881

Claim:
A solid state imaging device, comprising: a pixel region formed by arranging a cell in a matrix form, the cell including: a photoelectric conversion element that generates photo-generated electric charges corresponding to incident light; an accumulation well that accumulates the photo-generated electric charges; a modulation well that stores the photo-generated electric charges transferred from the accumulation well; a modulation transistor having a threshold voltage of a channel controlled by the photo-generated electric charges stored in the modulation well and that outputs a pixel signal corresponding to the photo-generated electric charges; and a residual electric charge discharging control element that controls a potential barrier of a residual electric charge discharging channel coupled to the modulation well and discharges the residual electric charges in the modulation well through the residual electric charge discharging channel; a reading means for driving the modulation transistor and the residual electric charge discharging control element, and carrying out mutually different controls to a cell where a reading is carried out, and to a cell where a reading is not carried out, in a modulation period when a signal modulation output based on the photo-generated electric charges accumulated in the modulation well, and a noise modulation output based on a noise component are obtained; a clear means for driving the modulation transistor and the residual electric charge discharging control element, and carrying out mutually different controls to a cell where a clear is carried out, and to a cell where a clear is not carried out, in a clear period when residual electric charges remaining in the modulation well are discharged; and a dummy clear means for controlling the clear means, and carrying out, a control for a cell where the clear is not carried out by the clear means, to all the cells, before reading a first line from a pixel region.