Semiconductor image sensor and a method of operating the same.

摘要

The image sensor has a hook structure formed of n<+> region (4), i region (5), p region (6) and n<+> region (7). The impurity concentrations in the hook structure, their distribution profiles and the materials of the regions forming the hook structure and their thicknesses are so selected as to optimise carrier storage function to permit non-destructive readout of optical information.
<??>A refreshed operation is performed by applying a pulse voltage 0s in such a manner that a bias voltage applied to a substrate or surface electrode (3) only in a light integration period and, in a refresh period, the pulse voltage 0s made zero or negative.