Charge Coupled Semiconductor Devices

In this paper we describe a new semiconductor device concept. Basically, it consists of storing charge in potential wells created at the surface of a semiconductor and moving the charge (representing information) over the surface by moving the potential minima. We discuss schemes for creating, transferring, and detecting the presence or absence of the charge. In particular, we consider minority carrier charge storage at the Si-SiO 2 interface of a MOS capacitor. This charge may be transferred to a closely adjacent capacitor on the same substrate by appropriate manipulation of electrode potentials. Examples of possible applications are as a shift register, as an imaging device, as a display device, and in performing logic.