Continuous clocking of TDI sensors

A time division and integration (TDI) sensor comprising an image area, the TDI sensor comprising:

• a transfer gate employed to transfer charge received from the image area of the TDI sensor;
• and
• a buffer gate interposed between the image area and the transfer gate, said buffer gate operated to propagate charge through the image area of the TDI sensor using a nonsquare voltage waveform.

A method of advancing accumulated charge in a time delay and integration (TDI) sensor, said TDI sensor comprising an image area and further comprising a buffer gate located between the image area and a transfer gate, the method comprising:

• controlling voltage waveform shapes advancing the accumulated charge between gates within the image area of the TDI sensor, wherein said controlling comprises applying a composite waveform voltage to said buffer gate.

A method for controlling voltage waveform shapes between gates in a time delay and integration (TDI) sensor, the TDI sensor comprising a buffer gate located between an image area and a transfer gate, comprising:

• applying a digital voltage wave to said transfer gate;
• and
• applying an inverted voltage wave to said buffer gate, wherein said inverted voltage wave is inverted with respect to the digital voltage wave applied to said transfer gate.

A method of controlling charge propagation in a time division and integration (TDI) sensor, comprising:

• controlling voltage waveform shape advancing an accumulated charge from gate to gate within a serial register area of said TDI sensor;
• wherein the voltage waveform shapes are controlled to generate a de minimis net substrate current on the TDI sensor.

A TDI sensor comprising a serial register and floating diffusion region, the TDI sensor comprising:

• a serial buffer gate interposed between the serial register area and the floating diffusion region configured to serially move charge from registers in the serial register area to the floating diffusion region using a composite waveform.

A TDI sensor comprising:

• a buffer gate interposed between a serial register area and a floating diffusion region, wherein said buffer gate is operated continuously when operation of the serial register area stops.

A method of controlling charge propagation in a TDI sensor, comprising:

• employing a fundamental frequency and significant harmonic TDI sensor drive waveforms that vary in frequency in proportion to an operating line rate of the TDI sensor.

A time division and integration (TDI) sensor comprising a plurality of gates, comprising:

• means for controlling voltage waveform shapes for waveforms advancing an accumulated charge between the gates of the TDI sensor using substantially nonsquare waveforms, wherein said voltage waveform shape controlling means operates adjacent gates at different voltage phases thereby providing a substantially de minimis net voltage.