A new configuration of CCD imager with a very low smear level—FIT-CCD imager

A new configuration of CCD imager has been developed to improve smearing. This new sensor introduces a storage region, which consists of pairs of vertical BCCD registers, between an interline transfer CCD imaging region and a readout horizontal CCD register. The configuration and operation of the new device (FIT-CCD imaging device) are described, together with the experimental results for 402 (V) element imaging devices. The smear level observed is low as ∼0.45 percent at 50 times the saturation exposure, being the lowest level so far obtained in solid-state imagers. Degradation in the contrast transfer function due to introduction of the storage region is very little because of the minimized vertical transfer loss by the storage region configuration with pairs of half-long BCCD registers.