Charge-Coupled Device: Integrated Circuit Capacitors Electric Charge Digital Imaging

Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or

coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer
its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a major technology used
in digital imaging.
Photosensitive digital cells are called sensors or optical sensors. CCD and CMOS sensor technology
are used today in camera systems, cameras of mobile phones, digital cameras and many systems that
are sensitive to image creation.
The sensors convert the incoming optical signal into electronic signals. They consist of light-sensitive
cells called photodiodes on sensors. Photodiodes receive light and convert photons into electrical
signals. The resolution/pixel of the sensor is proportional to the number of photodiodes. For example,
10 megapixels means 10 million photodiodes. The higher the resolution, the higher the detail quality.
If the sensor is produced in small sizes, the photodiodes will be smaller and accordingly less light will
be received. Thus, it is understood that sensors with high pixels do not always have high quality. Light
sensitivity needs to be increased in order to both use small photodiodes and improve image quality.
There are two basic types of sensors used in almost all digital
camera/measurement systems:
1. One of them is CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor
2. CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor.
CMOS sensors
1. Passive pixel sensors
2. Active pixel sensors.
Working Principle of CCD
CCDs are based on Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) capacitors technology.
In a CCD for capturing images, there is a photoactive region (an epitaxial layer of silicon), and
a transmission region made out of a shift register (the CCD). An image is projected through a
lens onto the capacitor array (the photoactive region), causing each capacitor to accumulate an
electric charge proportional to the light intensity at that location. Once the array has been
exposed to the image, a control circuit causes each capacitor to transfer its charges to its
neighbor (operating as a shift register). The last capacitor in the array dumps its charge into a
charge amplifier, which converts the charge into a voltage. By repeating this process, the
controlling circuit converts the entire contents of the array in the semiconductor to a sequence
of voltages. In a digital device, these voltages are then sampled, digitized, and usually stored
in memory; in an analog device (such as an analog video camera), they are processed into a
continuous analog signal (e.g. by feeding the output of the charge amplifier into a low-pass
filter), which is then processed and fed out to other circuits for transmission, recording, or other
processing.
In a CCD image sensor, pixels are represented by p-doped metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS)
capacitors. These MOS capacitors, the basic building blocks of a CCD are biased above the
threshold for inversion when image acquisition begins, allowing the conversion of incoming
photons into electron charges at the semiconductor-oxide interface; the CCD is then used to
read out these charges.
Difference between CCD and CMOS sensors
1
A CCD image sensor comprises a capacitor array Whereas, CMOS sensors
located behind a lens, and in the case of color sensors, convert charge to voltage at
an RGB filter array. Each capacitor represents an image each pixel and then perform
pixel. Photons falling on the capacitors generate pixel-level amplification of
electric charge proportional to the light intensity at the signal before it is passed
that point in the array. The charge is passed from each to an ADC.
capacitor to its neighbour and then through the final
capacitor to an amplifier that converts the
accumulated charge into a voltage. The process is
repeated to build up the image and the analog
voltages generated are digitized using an analog-to-
digital converter (ADC) before further processing
2 CCD are slow and hence not suitable video recordings It is a much faster process
than CCD image capture, so
facilitates higher frame
rates in video cameras.
3 CCDs have higher energy consumption The energy consumption of
CMOS image sensors can be
up to an order of magnitude
lower than for the
equivalent CCD device
4 High cost Low cost
5 Used in scientific research, high resolution imaging Common (like mobile phone
camera) as well as scientific
uses
Following image show difference between the two….
Figure 1: CCD vs CMOS image capture
Colour Production in CCD

There are versions of CCD sensors produced.
1. One Chip-One Shot technology: It has three basic color-sensitive filters, RGB (Red-Green-
Blue) on the sensor. In this way, basic color separation is done on the CCD. CCDs produced
by this method are mostly used in entry-level products. It has relatively low costs.
2. Two-Chip method RGB filter: Second sensor is used for brightness.
3. 3-CCD technology: Better color separation can be reached by three-CCD devices (3CCD) and
a dichroic beam splitter prism, that splits the image into red, green and blue components. Each of
the three CCDs is arranged to respond to a particular color. These CCD sensors are expensive to
manufacture, require more energy than other sensors, and require a large area for use.
Therefore, CCD sensors are not generally preferred in mobile phones. CCD sensors are more
preferred in fields such as special astronomy, as they give relatively higher quality and clear
images.
One Chip-One Shot technology: 50% pixels are Green; 25% Blue and 25% Red.
3-CCD technology

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Charge-coupled device

A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or

Difference between CCD and CMOS sensors

Figure 1: CCD vs CMOS image capture

Colour Production in CCD

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