RTC SEMINAR
"Charge-Coupled Device Image Sensors: The Physics Within"
James Lavine
Microelectronics Technology Division
Eastman Kodak Research Labs., Rochester NY
September 1998
Abstract:
Charge-coupled devices (CCDs) are used to capture visible images. CCDs are fabricated in crystalline silicon and their resolution and image quality rival silver halide film. CCDs work by transferring charge packets of electrons from the photosites to an output where the signals leave the imager for a display or a storage device. This talk will describe how CCDs are made and how they operate. This will include a discussion of how color images are captured and how fast the electrons transfer along the CCD shift register.
CCDs are fabricated with a series of oxidations, ion implantations of dopants, etchings, and photolithographic maskings. These process steps will be outlined and the types of modeling used in process simulation will be illustrated. The dopant profiles determine the electrical properties of the CCD image sensor, so the process simulations feed the device simulators. Examples will be shown from modeling in two and three spatial dimensions of the charge transfer. Potential obstacles delay charge transfer and the theoretical methods that have been developed to study this problem will be outlined.
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