Multiband charge-coupled device

We present the multiband charge-coupled device (CCD), a new CCD architecture that contains multiple vertically stacked active layers, capable of generating color images without the use of external filters. One of the applications is to embed the band-resolving capability of astronomical cameras into the CCD and therefore improve the overall survey speed of the telescope. As a proof of concept, we describe a three-layer, three-phase, front-illuminated prototype and simulate its multiband absorption and charge-detection performance.