Appeal No. 1997-3446
Application No. 08/373,237
This is a decision on appeal from the final rejection of
claims 6 through 10 and 13. The rejection of claims 11 and 12
has been withdrawn by the examiner.
The invention pertains to charge-coupled devices (CCD)
and, more particularly, to a photodiode comprising means for
draining away charges to a storage gate. The drainage device
includes a potential well which has a continuously varying
depth. The photosensitive region of the photodiode device has
two portions, one which is adjacent to the storage gate, or
region, and one portion which is remote from the storage
region. The drainage device, located within the remote
portion, drains charges which are created in the remote
portion toward the storage region.
Independent claim 6 is reproduced as follows:
6. A photosensitive device, comprising:
a non-photosensitive storage region,
at least one photosensitive region adjacent to said non-
photosensitive storage region, said photosensitive region
having a first portion adjacent to said storage region and a
second portion remote from said storage region, wherein said
storage region receives charges created in said photosensitive
region during illumination thereof, and
a drainage device located within said photosensitive
second portion, wherein said drainage device drains towards
said storage region charges created in said second portion
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