Hg0.7Cd0.3Te charge-coupled device shift registers

Eight-bit CCD shift registers with 10-μm-long electrodes have been successfully fabricated on n-type Hg0.7Cd0.3Te and operated between temperaures of 77 and 140 K. At 77 K, a charge transfer efficiency of 0.996 was obtained under four-phase operation between 1 and 100 kHz clock frequencies. The input signal was provided by pulsing an input gate beyond the tunnel breakdown limit during the on-time of the phase-one potential well. Signal was detected using a floating-gate output followed by correlated double sampling. The size of the signal is in agreement with predictions.