A/D processing of video signals at very high pixel rates

The video wave-form of CCD photocharge, clocked out at very high pixel rates, is a sequence of narrow voltage pulses. Pulse height is proportional to the recovered charge. A method and circuits are described for digitizing such waveforms in a 10-bit range at rates exceeding 75 MHz. Signal processing includes a wide-band clamping amplifier, a self-clocked peak detector, a very fast track/hold amplifier and a 75 MSPS, 10-bit flash converter. Digital data can be stored either in a local high speed RAM or transferred by a fast fiber-optic link to the remote digital storage. Test results (such as linearity, dynamic range and signal/noise ratio) are also given.<
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