Patent ID: 8570410

Claim:
A solid state imaging device comprising: (1) a plurality of unit pixels including (a) a photoelectric converter configured to generate electrical charge in accordance with incident light quantity and accumulate said charge therein, (b) a first transfer gate configured to transfer the charge accumulated in said photoelectric converter, (c) a charge holding region configured to hold the charge transferred from said photoelectric converter by said first transfer gate, (d) a second transfer gate configured to transfer the charge held in said charge holding region, and (e) a floating diffusion region configured to hold the charge, transferred from said charge holding region by said second transfer gate, for being read out as a signal; (2) an intermediate charge transfer unit configured to transfer, to said charge holding region, a charge which exceeds a predetermined charge amount, generated at said photoelectric converter in an exposure period in which all of said plurality of unit pixels perform imaging operations at the same time, as a first signal charge; and (3) a pixel driving unit configured to, in the exposure period in which all of said plurality of unit pixels perform imaging operations at the same time, (a) set said first transfer gate to a non-conducting state, (b) set said second transfer gate to a conducting state, (c) transfer said first signal charge from said charge holding region to said floating diffusion region, (d) set said second transfer gate to a non-conducting state, (e) set said first transfer gate to a conducting state, and (f) transfer the charge accumulated in said photoelectric converter to said charge holding region as a second signal charge, wherein, said pixel driving unit (a) reads out said first signal charge as a first output signal in increments of single pixels or increments of a plurality of pixels after said exposure period has ended, (b) then resets said floating diffusion region and reads out the reset level of said floating diffusion region as a reset signal, (c) then sets said second transfer gate to a conducting state and transfers said second signal charge to said floating diffusion region, and (d) subsequently reads out said second signal charge as a second output signal, and wherein, a potential of a gate corresponding to said charge holding region is set to a voltage realizing a pinning state during a period in which at least one of said first transfer gate and said second transfer gate is set to a non-conducting state.