Teledyne e2v: 50th Anniversary of the CCD

Teledyne e2v marks this anniversary with a series of publications and highlights how the future is bright for CCDs in space, science and other demanding applications.

 

CHELMSFORD, UK – Media OutReach – 26 February
2020 – From October 2019 through to January 2020 marks the 50^th anniversary
of the CCD, a device that has transformed the understanding of physics, life
sciences, the Earth, our solar system and beyond, and enriched our lives
through digital photography.

Willard Boyle and George E. Smith invented the
charge-coupled device (CCD) in 1969 in the United States at AT&T Bell Labs.
In 1970, Boyle and Smith submitted a paper on their invention of the CCD to the
Bell System Technical Journal. Their original ideas for the CCD were to create
a memory device. However, with the publication of Boyle and Smith’s research in
1970, other scientists began experimenting with the technology on a range of
applications. Astronomers discovered that they could produce high-resolution
images of distant objects because CCDs offered a photosensitivity one hundred
times greater than film.

50 years of the CCD
commemorative Logo produced by Teledyne e2v to mark the anniversary.

 

“The major thing is the quantum efficiency. You can get
close to 80 percent quantum efficiency in a CCD,” George E. Smith would later
explain.

Teledyne e2v will be marking the anniversary with the
production and creation of a unique badge design, holding an event for its
staff who have worked tirelessly on the development of the worlds most advanced
CCD designs and a series of short publications:

• Teledyne
  Exploring the Universe Infographic
• Edit
  7th Feb 2020: now available for download in three different sizes from
  our parent website Teledyne
  Imaging (link takes you to another site)
• Limited
  Edition Teledyne Exploring the Universe Booklet
• 50th
  Anniversary of the Invention of the CCD Device — information pamphlet
• Edit
  7th Feb 2020: now available for download from our parent
  website Teledyne
  Imaging (link takes you to another site)
• How a
  CCD image sensor works — information pamphlet
• Edit
  7th Feb 2020: now available for download from our parent
  website Teledyne
  Imaging (link takes you to another site)
• The
  Future is Bright for CCD Sensors — information pamphlet
• Edit
  7th Feb 2020: now available for download from our parent
  website Teledyne
  Imaging (link takes you to another site)
• Limited
  Edition 50 years of the CCD pin badge

 

CCD44-82 Teledyne e2v
Image Sensors used for the OmegaWhite, a variability survey aimed at periods of
less than 2 hours. Using the wide-field camera OmegaCam on the VLT Survey
Telescope (VST).

Dr Miles Adcock said: “It is incredible to think
how the invention of the CCD 50-years ago would lead to not only a
multi-billion dollar a year imaging industry but also that it enabled the
understanding of the life-sciences we have today and the discovery of distant
worlds.”

Teledyne e2v’s CCD fabrication facility is critical to the
success and quality of future space science missions and remains committed to
being the long-term supplier of high specification and quality devices for the
world’s major space agencies and scientific instruments producers.

Please follow us on LinkedIn, where we
will be posting download links for some of the above materials over the coming
weeks.

About Teledyne e2v

Teledyne e2v is a part of the Teledyne Imaging group. Their
innovations lead developments in healthcare, life sciences, space,
transportation, defense and security, and industrial markets. Teledyne e2v’s
unique approach involves listening to the market and application challenges of
customers and collaborating with them to provide innovative standard,
semi-custom or fully-custom imaging solutions, bringing increased value to
their systems.

In combination with its sister companies, Teledyne DALSA and
Teledyne Imaging Sensors, three imaging powerhouses, together represent a new
paradigm in the delivery of innovative imaging solutions built on unrivalled
expertise and a deep technological heritage that includes capabilities across
the spectrum, from infrared to x-ray imaging.

About Teledyne Imaging

Teledyne Imaging is a group of leading-edge technology
companies aligned within the Teledyne brand. With unrivalled expertise across
the electromagnetic spectrum and decades of experience, the group offers
world-leading capabilities in sensing, signal generation and processing. The
collective delivers innovative solutions to aerospace, defense, geospatial,
machine and industrial vision, medical and life sciences, semiconductors and
MEMs.