Ex parte CARANHAC et al. - Page 2




          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          has been withdrawn by the examiner.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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