Patent ID: 7636118

Claim:
A solid-state image sensor comprising: (a) unit pixels, each of which has (i) a photoelectric conversion element which converts incident light into an electric signal charge, (ii) an amplifying element which amplifies said electric signal charge of said photoelectric conversion element and generates an electric signal, (iii) a reset element which resets said photoelectric conversion element in response to a reset pulse, (iv) a select switch which selectively outputs the electric signal from said amplifying element to a signal line as a pixel signal in response to a select pulse, and (v) a common power supply connection which is connected to both a drain of said reset element and a drain of said amplifying element; and (b) a horizontal scanning circuit element operatively connected to said reset element and said select switch by separate signal lines and effective to generate and deliver said reset pulse and said select pulse, wherein, the reset element consists of a depletion type transistor, and the voltage of the common power supply is fixed.