Photoelectric conversion device using charge skimming

This invention provides an element having a skimming charge transfer function in an X-Y address type photoelectric conversion device using, e.g., a CMOS sensor, and a photoelectric conversion device, which accumulates photoelectric signal charges produced by a photoelectric conversion element (1) in a control electrode (gate) of a MOS transistor (2) so as to obtain a signal with a high S/N ratio by removing signal components produced by background radiation without using any CCD as an accumulation means of skimming charges, has a skimming electrode (12) for transferring skimming charges of those produced by the photoelectric conversion element (1), an n-type region (31) for accumulating the transferred skimming charges, a MOS transistor (2) for reading out potential changes caused by the skimming charges, and a circuit (51, 52) for automatically controlling the amount of skimming charges to be transferred.