Patent ID: 7091530

Claim:
A charge-coupled imager for imaging a sequence of image frames, the imager comprising: an array of super pixels disposed in a semiconductor substrate having a surface that is accessible to incident illumination, each super pixel including a plurality of independently-controlled subpixels, each subpixel of a super pixel corresponding to a frame in the sequence of image frames and each subpixel including: a doped photogenerated charge collection channel region opposite the illumination accessible substrate surface; a charge collection channel region control electrode; doped charge drain regions adjacent to the channel region; a charge drain region control electrode; and a doped charge collection control layer in the substrate below the charge collection channel region; the charge collection channel region, the charge drain regions, and the charge collection control layer each being characterized by a dopant type and dopant concentration for expanding the charge collection channel region in response to a charge collection control voltage applied to the channel region control electrode, to collect in the charge collection channel region photogenerated charge from the substrate during the image frame corresponding to that subpixel, and for contracting the collection channel region in response to a charge storage control voltage applied to the channel region control electrode, to store the collected photogenerated charge in the charge collection channel region and collect substantially no additional photogenerated charge as other subpixels of the super pixel collect photogenerated charge corresponding to other frames of the image frame sequence.