7. Conclusion

Today, silicon-based charge-coupled devices are integrated circuits in their own right, manufactured in large volumes for the facsimile, video camera and digital camera industries. DTC developments on other materials (HgCdTe, InSb, AsGa) have remained at the laboratory level, and to date (2005) have not led to any industrial production.

Progress in the integration of digital functions in CMOS technology integrated circuits, combined with the development of computer applications, has led to the replacement of yesterday's analog functions (delay lines, filters, multiplexers, etc.) by their digital equivalents in many applications, with clearly identified advantages in terms of storage, information stability and low power consumption.

Today, therefore, major industrial applications are limited to silicon-based image sensors, where the charge-coupled...