charge-coupled device

[ chahrj-kuhp-uhld ]

noun

, Electronics.

1. a semiconductor chip with a grid of light-sensitive elements, used for converting light images, as in a television camera, into electrical signals. : CCD

charge-coupled device

noun

1. computing an electronic device, used in imaging and signal processing, in which information is represented as packets of electric charge that are stored in an array of tiny closely spaced capacitors and can be moved from one capacitor to another in a controlled way CCD

charge-coupled device

1. A device made up of semiconductors arranged in such a way that the electric charge output of one semiconductor charges an adjacent one.

Word History and Origins

Origin of charge-coupled device¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

The invention of the charge-coupled device in 1969 meant that images could be captured on a silicon chip: photography had entered the digital realm.

From Nature

Many previous attempts to make compound eyes focused light from multiple lenses onto a flat chip, such as the charge-coupled device chips in digital cameras.

From Science Magazine

To find out how these major advances could be accomplished, recently spoke with Markus Hofmann, head of Bell Labs Research in New Jersey, the research and development arm of Alcatel–Lucent that, in its various guises, is credited with developing the transistor, the laser, the charge-coupled device and a litany of other groundbreaking 20th-century technologies.

From Scientific American

Rotating the diffraction grating controls which wavelengths of light reach another mirror, which in turn focuses these wavelengths onto a photodetector, such as a charge-coupled device.

From Scientific American

The results were tremendous, both scientifically and commercially—the invention of the charge-coupled device and the laser, as well as vital contributions to computing, satellite communications, semiconductors, and wireless technologies.

From Slate