New charge-coupled devices and circuits for analog VLSI focal-plane image processing

A novel approach to designing low-power, compact, charge-coupled device (CCD), analog, VLSI (very-large-scale integrated) circuits for signal processing is described. A charge-domain wire transfer circuit allows the coupling of CCD circuits through a metallic wire. The approach trades charge transfer efficiency of design simplicity. The impact of wire transfer on CCD circuit design is addressed. Charge-coupled computing circuit building blocks are discussed. Circuits utilizing wire transfer are described and include a general-purpose charge-coupled computer, an A/D (analog-to-digital) converter, a D/A (digital-to-analog) converter, and a focal-plane image processor chip