An array of closely spaced MOS capacitors. Information is represented as a packet of charge stored in a capacitor, rather than as a voltage or current. In operation, this charge can be transferred from capacitor to capacitor in a controlled manner by application of a suitable sequence of voltage pulses to the capacitors: the CCD behaves like an analogue shift register. Typically a three-phase clock sequence is used (see diagram): every third electrode is clocked synchronously to maintain a physical separation between the charge packets, minimizing corruption of the data packets. Some charge is lost during each transfer due to recombination at the surface, diffusion out of the capacitor, etc., and so the data must be restored periodically along the array.
CCDs can be used for signal processing applications, such as transversal filters, and in imaging applications, where the MOS capacitors are charged by exposure to light or other electromagnetic radiation and the image data is then read out in a serial manner.