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Fairchild Imaging, Inc.,
1801 McCarthy Blvd., Milpitas, CA 95035 (800)325-6975 (408) 433-2500
3
CCD133A
both ends of the 1024-photosite array are covered by opaque metal-
lization. These “Dark Reference Cells” provide four charge packets
(two on each side) at each end of the serial video output which indi-
cate the typical dark (non-illuminated) signal level. These cells may
be used as inputs to external DC restoration.
DEFINITION OF TERM
Charge-Coupled Device
—
A Charge-coupled device is a semi-
conductor device in which finite isolated charge-packets are trans-
ported from one position in the semiconductor to an adjacent posi-
tion by sequential clocking of an array of gates. The charge-packets
are minority carriers with respect to the semiconductor substrate.
Transfer Clock
φ
X
—
The transfer clock is the voltage waveform
applied to the transfer gate to move the accumulated charge from
the image sensor elements to the CCD transport shift registers.
Transport Clock
φ
T
—
The transport clock is the clock applied to
the gates of the CCD transport shift registers to move the charge-
packets received from the image sensor elements to the gate charge-
detector/amplifiers.
Sample-and-Hold Clock
(
φ
SHCA,
φ
SHCB
)
—
The voltage wave-
form applied to the sample-and-hold gates in the output amplifiers
to create a continuous sampled video signal at the output. The
sample-and-hold feature may be defeated by connecting
φ
SHGA
and
φ
SHGA
to V
DD
.
Isolation Cell
—
A site on-chip producing an element in the video
output that serves as a buffer between valid video data and dark
reference signals. The output from an isolation cell contains no
valid information and should be ignored.
Dynamic Range
—
The saturation exposure divided by the rms
temporal noise equivalent exposure. Dynamic range is sometimes
defined in terms of peak-to-peak noise. To compare the two defini-
tions a factor of four to six is generally appropriate in that peak-to-
peak noise is approximately equal to four to six times rms noise.
RMS Noise Equivalent Exposure
—
The exposure level that
gives an output signal to the rms noise level at the output in the
dark.
Saturation Exposure
—
The minimum exposure level that will
provide a saturation output signal. Exposure is equal to the light
intensity times the photosites integration time.
Charge Transfer Efficiency
—
Percentage of valid charge in-
formation that is transferred between each successive stage of the
transport registers.
Responsivity
—
The output signal voltage per unit exposure for a
specified spectral type of radiation. Responsivity equals output volt-
age divided by exposure.
Total Photoresponse Non-uniformity
—
The difference of the
response levels of the most and the least sensitive element under
uniform illumination. Measurement of PRNU excludes first and last
elements.
Dark Signal
—
The output signal in the dark caused by thermally
generated electrons that is a linear function of the integration time
and highly sensitive to temperature. (See accompanying photos for
details of definition.)
Saturation Output Voltage
—
The maximum usable signal out-
put voltage. Charge transfer efficiency decreases sharply when the
saturation output voltage is exceeded.
Integration Time
—
The time interval between the falling edge of
any two successive transfer pulses (
φ
X
). The integration is the time
allowed for the photosites to collect charge.
Pixel -
A picture element (photosite).