Patent ID: 7235831

Claim:
A photoelectric conversion device comprising: a plurality of pixels, each pixel comprising: (a) a photodiode including at least a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type, a second semiconductor region of the first conductivity type, wherein said second semiconductor region has an impurity concentration lower than that of said first semiconductor region, and is provided on a light-incident side of said first semiconductor region, and a third semiconductor region of a second conductivity type for forming a pn junction with said second semiconductor region, (b) an amplifier MOS transistor for functioning a source follower circuit; (c) a reset MOS transistor for resetting carriers accumulated in the photodiode; and (d) an electrode for connecting said third semiconductor region and a gate of the amplifier MOS transistor, wherein the photoelectric conversion device is configured such that said third semiconductor region has n-type conductivity when the carriers are electrons and such that said third semiconductor region has p-type conductivity when the carriers are holes.