IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE, SPATIAL INFORMATION DETECTING APPARATUSUSING THE SAME DEVICE AND METHOD FOR TAKING OUT RECEIVED-LIGHT OUTPUT FROM THE SAME DEVICE

摘要

A compact image pickup device with high sensitivity is provided, which is suitable for a spatial information detecting apparatus. The image pickup de vice has a plurality of image pickup units (Ul) arranged on a semiconductor substrate. Each of the image pickup units (Ul) has a light receiving array o f photoelectric conversion elements (Px) for generating electric charges cor responding to a received-light amount, a transfer array (Yl) of charge trans fer elements (Py), an accumulation array (Zl) of charge accumulation element s each having a greater charge storage capacity than a saturation charge amo unt of the photoelectric conversion element, and a charge-amount adjusting p ortion (D4) configured to determine an amount of undesired electric charges to be separated from the electric charges generated by each of the photoelec tric conversion elements. The transfer array and the light receiving array ( Xl) are arranged in a line in a vertical direction (Dv). The accumulation ar ray (Pz) is disposed adjacent to the transfer array (Py) in a horizontal dir ection (Dh).