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 The rejection of claims 11 and 12 has been withdrawn by the examiner.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 2Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007