The Double-Sided Floating-Surface Detector: An Enhanced Charge-Detection Architecture for CCD Image Sensors

A new high speed, low noise, non-destructive charge detector, called the Double-Sided Floating-Surface Detector (DSFSD), which is fabricated in a standard CCD image sensor process, is reported. This detector can be integrated in CCD image sensors and is capable of detecting large charge packets at very low noise levels. Typical values are 5-8 noise electrons (within 5 MHz) for a charge packet size of 100,000 to 250,000 electrons. The detector is used as the first MOS transistor in a three-stage source-follower configuration with a bandwidth of 150 MHz. The performance of the detector is calculated using a new, simple, model and experimentally verified.