A new type of solid-state detector has been designed to meet the needs of inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), including high quantum efficiency in the UV, low noise, wide dynamic range, rapid readout, broad spectral coverage, and high spectral resolution. The device is based on buried-channel chargecoupled-device (CCD) technology with unique features for optical emission spectroscopy and is matched to a specific echelle grating optical system described in the companion paper. It measures simultaneously 5.7% of the continuous ICP spectrum from 167 to 782 nm with 224 linear photodetector arrays. These arrays are targeted on three to four primary analytical lines for each of 72 elements and cover over 5000 ICP emission lines. This device provides the combination of high quantum efficiency in the UV, low readout noise typical of CCDs, true random-access readout, and charge blooming control for wide dynamic range. In general, the detector has photometric performance (quantum efficiency, noise, dynamic range) equal to or better than photomultiplier tubes for ICP-OES. The simultaneously measured spectral data can be used to correct for spectral interferences and correlated background noise so that analytical detection limits are photon shot noise limited.

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The design for two high fill-factor CCD arrays for optical signal processing applications is described. The imaging registers have 1 024 x 1 024 and 51 2 x 51 2 pixels and achieve virtually 100% optical fill factor through the use of substrate thinning and back illumination. High frame-rate readout is obtained by the use of a dual storage register and multiple floating-diffusion output ports resulting in reduced readout frequency. On-chip correlated double sampling amplifiers are implemented to reduce the readout noise and simplify off-chip analog signal processing. Both chips include anti-blooming drain structures and ESD protection circuits.

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