Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Electron-multiplying CCD

An electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD) is a charge-coupled device in which a gain register is placed between the shift register and the output amplifier. In the gain register the electrons are multiplied by impact ionization similar to a avalanche diode. EMCCDs show a similar sensitivty as Intensified CCDs (ICCDs) do.

Because of the lower costs and the better resolution EMCCDs are capable of replacing ICCDs in many applications. ICCDs still have the advandage that they can be gated very fast and thus are useful in applications like range-gated imaging.

External Links