A charge-coupled device shifts accumulated electrical charge across its surface, pixel by pixel, to a single output node where it is converted to a voltage. This architecture provides high-quality, low-noise image capture. While largely replaced by CMOS sensors in consumer cameras, it remains standard in specialized scientific, astronomical, and medical imaging systems.
Heard on the job
We need a cooled CCD for the telescope assembly to keep the thermal noise down during long exposures.
Also heard as
- charge-coupled device