A Model of Charge Transfer in Bucket Brigade and Charge-coupled Devices

Investigation of bucket brigade (BB) and charge-coupled devices (CCD) has resulted in the development of a general model for these devices and their various modes of operation. Similarities and differences between BB and CCD are discussed. The nonlinear partial differential equation of charge motion composed of self-induced drift, thermal diffusion, and electrode fringe-field terms is used to study CCD numerically. The factors that affect charge transfer are investigated by varying the stored charge density, the device length, the transfer-gate-to-storage electrode voltage, and the fringe field. The results include several plots of charge transfer vs time.