Patent ID: 8085331

Claim:
A solid-state imaging device comprising: a solid-state imaging element including a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type on which a second conductivity type well region is formed, photodiodes arranged two dimensionally on said semiconductor substrate, each of said photodiodes formed in the well region, and a column CCD having a read-out gate, a non read-out gate, and a charge transfer region, the read-out gate reading out signal charge of said photodiode and transferring the signal charge in a column direction, the non read-out gate transferring signal charge in a column direction, and the charge transfer region, which is formed in the well region, for transferring the read-out signal charge; and a driving pulse controlling unit configured to control said solid-state imaging element by applying a first driving pulse to each of read-out gates, wherein said driving pulse controlling unit transfers in a column direction signal charge within the charge transfer region by applying the first driving pulse to each of the read-out gates, the first driving pulse for alternating a first voltage at a MIDDLE level and a second voltage at a LOW level, and the first and the second voltages are minus voltages with respect to a potential of the well region.