Near Infrared and Visible CCD Imagers

Landauer et al. [8.102] have demonstrated an 800 x 800 element silicon buried channel imaging CCD with an rms readout noise of 15 electrons per pixel which was designed for space telescope imaging in the visible and near infrared regions at 

Because of the small pixel size (ISpmx 15 pm) and the buried-channel structure, saturation occurs at approximately 7 x 10 electrons per pixel. In addition to the large number of elements the array structure is fabricated such that noise-free summation of the charge from two or more pixels (prior to the output amplifier) can be carried out. This type of pixel summation should enhance its capability to perform low contrast, diffuse imaging. The device has line and point imperfection of less than 1 % of the pixels [8.103]. 

Dyck [8.104] reported that a 1024 x 64 element silicon imager, which can be used both in both the storage and time-delay-integration (TDI) modes, has shown high saturation capability (10 electrons per pixel) with a total surface uniformity of 1-3 % and a 50% quantum efficiency when operated in the storage mode. The rms noise was less than 200 electrons per pixel but the actual value was not reported. When operated in the TDI mode as a line scan imager the sensitivity was said to increase by a factor of 64 over a simple line scan image sensor of equal size elements (20 pm x 20 pm). 

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