Abstract: The present invention has an object of providing a method of driving a solid-state imaging device which can reduce reading voltage even when transfer electrodes adjacent to reading electrodes are smaller than the reading electrodes as a result of miniaturization of pixels. The solid-state imaging device includes photodiodes and vertical CCDs each including transfer electrodes. The method includes: reading signal charges from the photodiodes by setting the electric potential of a predetermined transfer electrode among the reading electrodes to the electric potential VH; transferring the read signal charges in a column direction by applying driving pulses having electric potentials VM and VL to the transfer electrodes. Each of the reading electrodes has a larger area than the adjacent transfer electrodes.

Abstract: The solid-state imaging device according to the present invention includes: vertical transfer units provided to each column of photoelectric conversion units in rows and columns, and which vertically transfer generated signal charges; a horizontal transfer unit which horizontally transfers signal charges; and a first transfer unit and second transfer unit provided between the vertical transfer units and the horizontal transfer unit. The first transfer unit selectively holds and transfers signal charges from the vertical transfer units to the second transfer unit to mix signal charges of m same-color photoelectric conversion units nearest each other in horizontal direction, m being an integer not less than two, and the second transfer unit selectively holds and transfers signal charges from the first transfer unit to the horizontal transfer unit to mix signal charges of n same-color photoelectric conversion units nearest each other in the horizontal direction, n being an integer greater than m.

Abstract: The present invention has an object of providing a method of driving a solid-state imaging device which can reduce reading voltage even when transfer electrodes adjacent to reading electrodes are smaller than the reading electrodes as a result of miniaturization of pixels. The solid-state imaging device includes photodiodes and vertical CCDs each including transfer electrodes. The method includes: reading signal charges from the photodiodes by setting the electric potential of a predetermined transfer electrode among the reading electrodes to the electric potential VH; transferring the read signal charges in a column direction by applying driving pulses having electric potentials VM and VL to the transfer electrodes. Each of the reading electrodes has a larger area than the adjacent transfer electrodes.

Abstract: The present invention has an object of providing a method for driving a solid-state imaging device which includes photodiodes 210 arranged in columns and rows and vertical CCDs 220 each of which is provided for a corresponding one of the columns of the photodiodes and includes transfer electrodes V1 to V6, the method for driving the solid-state imaging device making it possible to reduce aged deterioration of a vertical CCD and a reading voltage and including: reading a signal charge from each of the photodiodes 210 by setting an electric potential of one of the transfer electrodes to a high-level electric potential VH; and transferring, in a column direction, the read signal charge by applying, to each of the transfer electrodes V1 to V6, a driving pulse having a mid-level electric potential VM and a low-level electric potential VL, the mid-level electric potential VM being lower than the electric potential VH, and the low-level electric potential VL being lower than the electric potential VM, wherein, in th