Abstract
Three kinds of operations for a STACK-CCD of a 2/3-in 2 million-pixel high-definition-television (HDTV) imager to expand its dynamic range and a S/N ratio are proposed and evaluated. A high-light signal suppression operation, knee control operation, can expand the dynamic range up to 90 dB without a fixed-pattern noise for the STACK-CCD imager. A small signal reset (SSR) operation reduces the random noise generated in the storage diode (SD) from 30 electrons to 26 electrons. The fixed-pattern noise generated in the SD is also suppressed by up to 10 electrons by the accumulation operation and a surrounding channel stop region. Using these operations, the dynamic range of 90 dB, the S/N ratio of 54 dB can be obtained for the 2/3-in 2 million-pixel STACK-CCD imager with the incomplete-transfer type storage-diode.
