Imaging system and driving method

Abstract

An imaging system, capable of reducing blooming in a solid-state imaging device and improving image sensitivity, comprises an imaging section which has at least three transfer electrodes and is continuously arranged with pixels for producing information charges in response to the light from the outside, wherein the information charges are stored and transferred using potential wells formed by potentials applied to the transfer electrodes and, during image capture, one of the transfer electrodes is maintained in an ON state and at least another one of the transfer electrodes is alternately switched between an ON state and an OFF state. It is more preferable to average the amount of generated dark current under the transfer electrodes by switching the transfer electrodes between an ON state and an OFF state for image capture. This provides restraint of a difference in the amount of generated dark current between pixels, thus reducing image graininess.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.