The TC213 is a frame-transfer charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor that provides very high-resolution image acquisition for image-processing applications such as robotic vision, medical X-ray analysis, and metrology. The image format measures 12.00 mm horizontally by 6.12 mm vertically; the image-area diagonal is 13.5 mm. The image-area pixels are 12-um square. The image area contains 510 active lines with 1000 active pixels per line. Two additional dark reference lines give a total of 512 lines in the image area, and 24 additional dark-reference pixels per line give a total of 1024 pixels per horizontal line.

The storage section of the TC213 contains 512 lines with 1024 pixels per line. This area is protected from exposure to light by an aluminum light shield. Photoelectric charge that is generated in the image area of the TC213 can be transferred into the storage section in less than 500 us. After image capture (integration time), the readout is accomplished by transferring the charge, one line at a time, into two serial registers located below the storage area, each of which contains 512 data elements and 12 dummy elements. One serial-register clocks out charge that is generated in the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the imaging area; the other serial-register processes charge from the even-numbered columns of the imaging area. The typical serial-register data rate is 10 megapixels per second. Three transfer gates are used to isolate the serial registers. If the storage area or storage and image areas need to be cleared of all charge, charge may be quickly transferred across the serial registers and into the clearing drain, which is located below the serial-register section.

This MOS device contains limited built-in gate protection. During storage or handling, the device leads should be shorted together or the device should be placed in conductive foam. In a circuit, unused inputs should always be connected to SUB. Under no circumstances should pin voltages exceed absolute maximum ratings. Avoid shorting OUTn to ADB during operation to prevent damage to the amplifier. The device can also be damaged if the output terminals are reverse-biased and an excessive current is allowed to flow. Specific guidelines for handling devices of this type are contained in the publication Guidelines for Handling Electrostatic-Discharge-Sensitive (ESDS) Devices and Assemblies available from Texas Instruments.

Gated floating-diffusion detection structures are used with each serial register to convert charge to signal voltage. External resets allow the application of off-chip correlated clamp sample-and-hold amplifiers for low-noise performance. To provide high output-drive capability, both outputs are buffered by low-noise, two-stage, source-follower amplifiers. These two output signals can provide a data rate of 20 megapixels per second when combined off chip. An output of 30 frames per second with one field per frame is typical. At room temperature, the readout noise is 55 elecrons and a minimum dynamic range of 60 dB is available.

The blooming protection incorporated into the sensor is based on recombining excess charge with charge of opposite polarity in the substrate. This antiblooming is activated by supplying clocking pulses to the antiblooming gate, which is an integral part of each image-sensing element. The storage area antiblooming gate is clocked only for charge transfer in normal use.

The TC213 is built using TI-proprietary virtual-phase technology, which provides devices with high blue response, low dark signal, good uniformity, and single-phase clocking.

The TC213 is characterized for operation from -10°C to 40°C.