Patent ID: 7750964

Claim:
A method of driving a semiconductor device for physical quantity distribution sensing, the semiconductor device including charge generating sections arranged in a matrix for generating signal charge responsive to an input electromagnetic wave, a first charge transfer section for successively transferring in one direction the signal charge generated by the charge generating section, a second charge transfer section for successively transferring the signal charge, transferred by the first charge transfer section, in another direction different from the one direction, and a charge storage section arranged between the first charge transfer section and the second charge transfer section, the method comprising the steps of: transferring signal charge of one unit generated by the charge generating section and transferred in the other direction into the charge storage section by driving the signal charge in the one direction with driving signals alternately reverse phased on a per driving signal set basis within an effective transfer period of the other direction; and transferring the signal charge of a predetermined unit transferred to the charge storage section to the second charge transfer section by driving the signal charge in a predetermined phase relationship outside the effective transfer period of the other direction.