Charge transfer device for processing video-frequency signals

Claim 1

A charge-coupled device for the processing of video-frequency signals, which comprises: a semiconductor body of a first type conductivity; a semiconductor layer of a second type conductivity opposite to that of the first type on said body and having a thickness and a doping concentration such as to permit a depletion zone to be formed throughout the thickness of the semiconductor layer without the occurrence of breakdown upon the application of an electric field; an insulating layer on said semiconductor layer; write means for locally introducing information in the form of charge consisting of majority charge carriers into the semiconductor layer, said write means comprising a diffused input region of said second conductivity type in said semiconductor layer and more highly doped than said semiconductor layer, first and second gate electrodes which comprise conductive layers on said insulating layer, input terminals connected to said diffused input region and said first gate electrode for receiving an input signal from an input signal source, and an input terminal connected to said second gate electrode for receiving a substantially constant voltage, said first gate electrode being located between the input terminal to said diffused region and the second gate electrode; read means for reading out said information from the semiconductor layer at a location remote from said write means; and electrode means on said insulating layer for capacitively generating electric fields in said semiconductor layer in a direction parallel to the semiconductor layer, for transferring charge from said write means and through said semiconductor layer, in a direction parallel to said semiconductor layer, to the read means.