CCDs: What are they and how do they work?

Charged-Coupled Device

What are CCDs?

What does "CCD" stand for?

CCD stands for Charged-Coupled Device.

What makes up a CCD?

A CCD is made up of MOS capacitators.

What does "MOS" stand for?

MOS stands for Metal Oxide Semiconductor.

How does a CCD work?

A CCD has many cells, which each store electrons when photons of light hit them. It releases these electrons in order when the data is needed

What are the practical uses of a CCD?

You probably have a CCD in your pocket. Almost all digital cameras or digital image capturers use CCDs.

What are the limitations of a CCD?

CCDs can only take photos with Black & White. However, by putting a Bayer filter on the CCD, which looks like this:
Bayer filter on CCD
they can solve the problem of Color Photos by writing the colors in each pixel. Also, when you get a vertical line due to bad exposure, the electron containers overflow, and due to the structure of a CCD, the electrons flow vertically, causing the white glare we all know and hate.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

So CCDs can be used for taking photos. What else can they do?

CCDs can also sense Infared Light, making them useful for energy audits.

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