The invention relates to a regenerator circuit for CCD elements in accordance with the CCD principle (charge-coupled-device principle).
CCD elements are increasingly gaining in significance in association with integrated storage circuits, as they enable high bit densities to be reached. The more highly integrated the circuit is with uniform overall surface area, the smaller are the dimensions of the CCD arrangements. At the same time, however, the quantity of charge which represents the information becomes smaller so that the signal recognition becomes more difficult. This results in the need for more highly sensitive amplifier circuits.
As described, for example, in W. F. Kosonocky and I. E. Carnes, "Charge-Coupled Digital Circuits", IEEE Journ. of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. SC-6, No. 5, October 1971, p. 314-322, and in N. G. Vogl and T. U. Marroun, "Operating Memory Systems Using Charge-Coupled-Devices", Digest of ISSCC 1972, p. 246, in known regenerator circuits the principle of an inverter is used. Here a disadvantage arises that the operating frequency of the entire CCD arrangement is limited simply by the relatively low operating frequency of the inverter regenerator circuit. As a consequence, the CCD arrangements cannot be exploited in terms of their overall frequency. A further disadvantage of such known regenerator circuits consists in their low amplification.