Patent ID: 7102115

Claim:
A photoelectric converter, comprising: a photoelectric conversion circuit for generating an optical signal in correspondence to incident light; a reset circuit connected to an output terminal of the photoelectric conversion circuit; an amplification circuit connected to output terminals of the photoelectric conversion circuit and the reset circuit; an electric charge transfer unit having a terminal connected to an output terminal of the amplification circuit; a capacitor connected to the other terminal of the electric charge transfer unit; a source follower amplifier having a gate connected to the electric charge transfer unit and the capacitor; a channel selection circuit connected to a source of the source follower amplifier; a common signal line to which an output terminal of the channel selection circuit is connected; a first current source connected to the common signal line; and a second current source connected to the source of the source follower amplifier; wherein the capacitor holds a reference signal generated through resetting of the photoelectric conversion circuit by the reset circuit, and when the channel selection circuit is turned ON, the reference signal is read out from the capacitor to the common signal line, and then the electric charge transfer unit is turned ON to read out the optical signal to the common signal line.