Four image reorganization ICs that enable real-time difference encoding for hierarchical lossless image compression are reported. Two image reorganization processors are realized on the focal-plane and two are designed for hybridization to a separate imager IC. The two focal-plane ICs represent the first integration of a 256*256 buried-channel frame-transfer CCD image sensor with additional charge-domain circuitry to enable image reformatting at video rates (28 frames/s). The four ICs generate pyramidal pixel output in 3*3 blocks with the center pixel first. Pixel data reorganization is performed through simultaneous readout of three rows of data, followed by pixel resequencing and sampling to provide differential output. A novel architecture provides simultaneous readout of multiple imager rows on the focal-plane ICs. The ICs have achieved a charge-transfer efficiency (CTE) of 0.99996 in the conventional horizontal and vertical CCD registers, and a CTE of 0.99994 in the SP/sup 3/ registers.< >

A simple, nearly passive circuit for programmable gain control of charge-domain signals is described. The circuit is functionally equivalent to a multiplying digital-to-analog converter (MDAC) and is implemented in a 3- mu m double-poly, double-metal charge-coupled device (CCD) process. Two implementations of the circuit are reported: a single-stage recursive converter, and a ten-stage pipeline converter. The latter occupies 0.4 mm/sup 2/ of chip area and consumes approximately 2 mu W for a 1-kHz conversion rate. The circuit is shown experimentally to have all 8-b equivalent accuracy in both differential and integral linearity and is expected to find application in focal-plane image processing for both detector nonuniformity correction and convolution weighting.< >

The fabrication and initial laboratory test of 128x128-element focal plane arrays integrating IrSi detectors with a cutoff wavelength of approximately 9.4 μm and surface-channel CCD readout circuitry are presented. This extends thermal imaging with silicide Schottky-barrier detector arrays into the long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) spectral band (8 to 14 μm) for the first time. High-quality imagery with a minimum resolvable temperature of approximately 0.3 K is obtained.