Solid-state imaging device and method for driving the same

A solid-state imaging device comprising:

• an imaging area including a plurality of pixels arranged in columns and rows;
• and
• peripheral circuitry for selecting at least one of the pixels,
• wherein each said pixel includes:
• a photoelectric transducer for creating electric charges by converting incoming light into electric energy and for storing the charges therein;
• an amplifier for sensing a variation in potential in the photoelectric transducer;
• and
• a reset electrode for discharging the charges, which have been stored in the photoelectric transducer, to a power supply, thereby resetting the potential in the photoelectric transducer, and
• wherein the peripheral circuitry includes a selector for generating a control signal to be applied to the reset electrode to control the height of an electrical barrier under the reset electrode,
• wherein the selector includes a bank of multi-stage inverters operative upon the application of first and second power supply voltages thereto, the second power supply voltage being lower than the first power supply voltage, some of the inverters on the last stage generating a biased output signal to be supplied as the control signal, and
• wherein at least two different voltages are applied as the first power supply voltage to the bank of multi-stage inverters, the first power supply voltage applied to the last-stage inverters being higher than the first power supply voltage applied to the other inverters of the bank.

A solid-state imaging device comprising

• a plurality of pixels, and
• peripheral circuitry for selecting at least one of the pixels,
• wherein each said pixel includes
• information storage for storing therein electric charges created by photoelectric conversion, and
• a reset device, responsive to a control signal, for varying the height of an electrical barrier existing between the information storage and a power supply, thereby discharging the electric charges, which have been stored in the information storage, to the power supply, and
• wherein the peripheral circuitry includes a selector for generating the control signal,
• wherein the selector includes a bank of multi-stage inverters operative upon the application of first and second power supply voltages thereto, the second power supply voltage being lower than the first power supply voltage, some of the inverters on the last stage generating a biased output to be supplied as the control signal to the reset device, and
• wherein at least two different voltages are applied as the first power supply voltage to the bank of multi-stage inverters, the first power supply voltage applied to the last-stage inverters being higher than the first power supply voltage applied to the other inverters of the bank.

A solid-state imaging device comprising

• a plurality of pixels, and
• peripheral circuitry for selecting at least one of the pixels,
• wherein each said pixel includes
• information storage for storing therein electric charges created by photoelectric conversion, and
• a reset device, responsive to a control signal, for varying the height of an electrical barrier existing between the information storage and a power supply, thereby discharging the electric charges, which have been stored in the information storage, to the power supply, and
• wherein the peripheral circuitry includes a selector for generating the control signal,
• wherein the selector includes a bank of multi-stage inverters operative upon the application of first and second power supply voltages thereto, the second power supply voltage being lower than the first power supply voltage, some of the inverters on the last stage generating a biased output to be supplied as the control signal to the reset device, and
• wherein the first power supply voltage applied to the last-stage inverters is higher than a third power supply voltage applied to the other inverters of the bank during a selected interval only.