Patent ID: 7864236

Claim:
A CMOS image sensor comprising: a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements arranged in a matrix having a plurality of rows and columns; a plurality of floating junctions, each of which is arranged between two adjacent rows of a plurality of the photoelectric conversion elements arranged in the same columns, and is connected to a pair of the photoelectric conversion elements arranged in the adjacent rows and in the same columns so that output signals of the pair of photoelectric conversion elements may be transferred; output circuits connected to the plurality of floating junctions arranged in the same columns to commonly read the output signals of the photoelectric conversion elements transferred to the floating junctions; and output signal lines provided for each column so as to supply output signals of the output circuits, wherein the output circuits are arranged between the pairs of photoelectric conversion elements which are arranged in the same columns, and the plurality of the photoelectric conversion elements arranged in the same row are respectively connected to the floating junctions via reading gate transistors, which are driven by a same control gate line and at least one gate of a transistor element in the output circuits is directly connected to the plurality of floating junctions.