Orthogonal Transfer Array Charge Coupled Device

A new generation of CCD devices is shown here. Unlike the usual detectors which transfer charge only along rows, for the purposes of reading out the image formed by the photelectric effect, these Orthogonal Transfer Arrays allow charge to be moved along columns as well. This enables a new type of camera where the atmospheric jitter of an image around the detector can be compensated by moving the image underneath the jitter (I apologise to the experts for this oversimplified description). This mechanical silicon wafer incorporates three OTAs (the checkerboard looking chips), a 2600*4000 CCD, two 800*1200 CCDs, and a number of small test devices (around the edges). The streets (gaps between the OTCCDs) contain all the necessary control lines and other on-chip logic to run each of the 64 independent cells. See the June 2004 NOAO Newsletter (currently only available in PDF format).