Patent ID: 7342270

Claim:
A solid state imaging system having, in a substrate, a plurality of accumulation wells for accumulating photogenerated charge generated on a photoelectric conversion area according to an incident light, the plural photoelectric conversion areas being aligned on the substrate in a two-dimensional matrix, the solid state imaging system comprising: a plurality of photoelectric conversion areas that are placed in pairs for each pixel of the solid state imaging system; a plurality of amplifying units that are placed one by one for every pair of photoelectric conversion areas, each of which is placed side-by-side in one direction of the two-dimensional matrix, for outputting a pixel signal according to the photogenerated charge retained in a floating diffusion area, a plurality of transfer controlling elements that are placed in pairs for each pair of the photoelectric conversion areas for controlling the transfer of the photogenerated charge by changing a potential barrier of a photogenerated charge transfer route between each of the accumulation wells in the pair of photoelectric conversion areas and the corresponding floating diffusion area, and a plurality of transfer gate lines that are connected to each of the transfer controlling elements in the plural photoelectric conversion areas that are aligned in the other direction of the two-dimensional matrix, wherein each of the plural transfer controlling elements has a transfer gate placed on a substrate surface via an insulating film and a charge retention area for retaining the photogenerated charge in the substrate and beneath the transfer gate, while the plural amplifying units are respectively a transistor and the form of a gate of the transistor is approximately ring-shaped respectively, each gate being placed on a carved-out part of each pair of the transfer gates, each of which is placed side-by-side in one direction of the two-dimensional matrix in a manner of being interposed at least in part.