Patent ID: 6933972

Claim:
A solid-state image pickup device, comprising: a number of photoelectric conversion elements disposed in a plurality of rows and columns in a surface of a semiconductor substrate, each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element column of an even number being shifted in a column direction by about a half pitch between photoelectric conversion elements in each photoelectric conversion element column, relative to each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element column of an odd number, and each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element row of an even number being shifted in a row direction by about a half pitch between photoelectric conversion elements in each photoelectric conversion element row, relative to each photoelectric conversion element of a photoelectric conversion element row of an odd number, so that each photoelectric conversion element row includes photoelectric conversion elements of only the odd or even columns; a switching circuit unit provided per each photoelectric conversion element, said switching circuit unit including an output transistor capable of generating an electric images signal representing an amount of a signal charge accumulated in a corresponding photoelectric conversion element; a row select signal wiring line provided per each photoelectric conversion element row and extending along a corresponding photoelectric conversion element row, said row select signal wiring line connected to and supplying a row select signal to associated switching circuit units of odd or even columns, the row select signal controlling generation of the electric image signal; an analog/digital conversion unit provided for each pair of adjacent photoelectric conversion element columns, and comprising a common sample/hold circuit and a common A/D converter; and an output signal line electrically connecting said analog/digital conversion unit and the output transistors in said each pair of adjacent photoelectric conversion element columns.