Abstract: The objective of the invention is to provide a type of electronic endoscope that can reduce the noise in the image pickup signal sent from the electronic endoscope, and a type of endoscope system using said electronic endoscope. Electronic endoscope 1 has solid-state image pickup element 12, A/D converter 30 that converts the analog image pickup signal from solid-state image pickup element 12 to a digital signal, and parallel/series converter 32 that converts the parallel input digital signal from A/D converter 30 to a series signal. The digitally converted image pickup signal is sent from electronic endoscope 1, so that even when cable 58 becomes longer, the noise resistance can still be improved by comparison to the analog signal in the prior art.

Abstract: A solid-state image pickup device and method are provided. The device can not only operate with a wide dynamic range but it also allows the user to switch the dynamic range corresponding to the photographic scene, and its operating method. Plural pixels, each of which has a photodiode, a transfer transistor, a floating diffusion region, an additional capacitance element, a capacitance coupling transistor, and a reset transistor, are integrated in an array on a semiconductor substrate. The capacitance of such floating diffusion region is less than that of such photodiode. A first signal S1 obtained by transferring part or all of the photoelectric charge accumulated in such photodiode PD to such floating diffusion region FD or a second signal S1+S2 obtained by transferring all of the photoelectric charge accumulated in such photodiodes to the potential obtained by coupling such floating diffusion region and such additional capacitance element CS is output to all of the pixels.

Abstract: This invention controls the signal amplification rate in a simple way with high precision in a CMD or CMD-carrying CCD device. CMD 12 has plural sections, such as M sections (U1-UM), each of which is a CMD unit U that can perform a charge multiplication operation, set in series. Each section of CMD unit Ui has plural (such as 4) electrodes G1, G2, G3, G4 set in a row via an insulating film, such as silicon oxide film 100, on a silicon insulating film. Among driving voltages P1, P2, P3, P4 applied on the electrodes G1, G2, G3 and G4, P1 and P2 are applied in the same cycle as the transfer clock, P4 for impact ionization is applied in intermittent cycles with respect to P1 and P2, and P3 is applied as a DC voltage at a prescribed level.

Abstract: This invention controls the signal amplification rate in a simple way with high precision in a CMD or CMD-carrying CCD device. CMD 12 has plural sections, such as M sections (U1-UM), each of which is a CMD unit U that can perform a charge multiplication operation, set in series. Each section of CMD unit Ui has plural (such as 4) electrodes G1, G2, G3, G4 set in a row via an insulating film, such as silicon oxide film 100, on a silicon insulating film. Among driving voltages P1, P2, P3, P4 applied on the electrodes G1, G2, G3 and G4, P1 and P2 are applied in the same cycle as the transfer clock, P4 for impact ionization is applied in intermittent cycles with respect to P1 and P2, and P3 is applied as a DC voltage at a prescribed level.