416 Charge-density wave
There are several methods of controlling the charge motion,
all of which rely upon providing a lower potential for the charge
in the desired direction. When an electrode is placed in proximity
to a semiconductor surface, the electrode’s potential can control
the near-surface potential within the semiconductor. The basis
for this control is the same as for metal oxide semiconductor
(MOS) transistor action. If closely spaced electrodes are at dif-
ferent voltages, they will form potential wells of different depths.
Free charge will move from the region of higher potential to the
one of lower potential.
An important property of a charge-coupled device is its ability
to transfer almost all of the charge from one well to the next.
Without this feature, charge packets would be quickly distorted
and lose their identity. This ability to transfer charge is measured
as transfer efficiency, which must be very good for the structure to
be useful in long registers. Values greater than 99.9% per transfer
are not uncommon. This means that only 10% of the original
charge is lost after 100 transfers.
A second important property of a charge-coupled-device reg-
ister is its lifetime. When the surface electrode is clocked high,
the potential within the semiconductor also increases. Majority
charge is swept away, leaving behind a depletion layer. If the
potential is taken sufficiently high, the surface goes into deep de-
pletion until an inversion layer is formed and adequate minority
charge collected to satisfy the field requirements. The time it takes
for minority charge to fill the well is the measure of well lifetime.
The major sources of unwanted charge are: thermal diffusion of
substrate minority charge to the edge of the depletion region,
where it is collected in the well; electron-hole pair generation
within the depletion region; and the emission of minority charge
by traps. Surface-channel charge-coupled devices usually have
a better lifetime, since surface-state trap emission is suppressed
and the depletion regions are usually smaller. [M.R.Gu.]
The most significant current application of the charge-
coupled-device concept is as an imaging device. Charge-
coupled-device image sensors utilize the fact that silicon is sensi-
tive to light. In fact, silicon is sensitive to wavelengths from about
400 to 1100 nanometers (from ultraviolet to near-infrared).
When light photons penetrate the silicon surface, hole-electron
pairs are created in the silicon. The number of hole-electron
pairs created is a function of wavelength (photon energy), inten-
sity (number of photons), and duration (length of time exposed
to light).
In a charge-coupled-device image sensor, the light is focused
upon an array of picture elements (pixels). These pixels collect
the electrons as they are created. The number of electrons col-
lected in each pixel is representative of the light intensity pro-
jected onto the sensor at that point. Periodically, the charges
from all of the pixels are read out, and the image can then be
reconstructed from the intensity and pixel location data.
There are two primary categories of image sensors. Linear
image sensors have the pixels aligned along a central axis. Area
image sensors have the pixels arranged in a rectangular (rows ×
columns) array pattern. Linear image sensors require relative
motion between the sensor and the object being scanned. The
relative motion is precisely known so that, as the object is
scanned one line at a time, it can then be reconstructed one
line at a time. Area image sensors do not require this motion.
The resolution of area image sensors has become equiva-
lent to photographic film, enabling the development of digi-
tal photography. Cameras with very large, very high resolution
area image sensors provide professional photographers better
final pictures than are obtainable with conventional film, while
lower-resolution, lower-cost, digital charge-coupled-device cam-
eras are available to consumers. See CAMERA.
A miniaturized charge-coupled-device camera allows a dentist
to see inside a patient’s mouth or a physician to see inside a
patient’s body. Charge-coupled-device area imagers are also
used in intraoral dental x-ray systems. Charge-coupled-device-
based systems with very large area image sensors have been
introduced in mammography, to image x-rays of the human
breast.
Astronomers have long used charge-coupled device area im-
age sensor cameras mounted on very high power telescopes. By
synchronizing the motion of the telescope with the Earth’s ro-
tation, the camera can “stare” at one spot in space for hours
at a time. The long integration times allow distant objects to be
imaged that are otherwise invisible. To keep the sensor from be-
ing saturated with thermally generated charge, these cameras
◦
typically cool the charge-coupled-device chip down to −50 to
◦ ◦ ◦
−100 C (−58 to −148 F). See ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY;
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS; SEMICONDUCTOR. [S.O.]
Charge-density wave A possible ground state of a
metal in which the conduction-electron charge density is sinu-
soidally modulated in space. The periodicity of this extra mod-
ulation is unrelated to the lattice periodicity. Instead, it is de-
termined by the dimension of the conduction-electron Fermi
surface in momentum space. See FERMI SURFACE.
In a quasi-one-dimensional metal, for which conduction elec-
trons are mobile in one direction only, a charge-density wave
can be caused by a Peierls instability. This mechanism involves
interaction between the electrons and a periodic lattice distor-
tion having a wave vector Q parallel to the conduction axis. The
linear-chain metal niobium triselenide (NbSe3) is prototypical.
For isotropic metals, and quasi-two-dimensional metals,
Coulomb interactions between electrons are the cause of a
charge-density wave instability. The exchange energy, an effect
of the Pauli exclusion principle, and the correlation energy, an ef-
fect of electron-electron scattering, both act to stabilize a charge-
density wave. However, the electrostatic energy attributable to
the charge modulation would suppress a charge-density wave
were it not for a compensating charge response of the positive-
ion lattice. See EXCHANGE INTERACTION; EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE.
A wavelike displacement of this lattice will generate a positive-
ion charge density that almost cancels the electronic charge mod-
ulation of the charge-density wave. A typical value of the dis-
placement amplitude is about 1% of the lattice constant. Ion-ion
repulsive interactions must be small in order to permit such a
distortion. Consequently, charge-density waves are more likely
to occur in metals having small elastic moduli. See BAND THEORY
OF SOLIDS; CRYSTAL STRUCTURE; SPIN-DENSITY WAVE. [A.W.O.]
Charged particle beams Unidirectional streams of
charged particles traveling at high velocities. Charged particles
can be accelerated to high velocities by electromagnetic fields.
They are then able to travel through matter (termed an absorber),
interacting with it, losing energy, and causing various effects
important in many applications. Examples of charged particles
are electrons, positrons, protons, antiprotons, alpha particles,
and any ions (atoms with one or several electrons removed or
added). In addition, some particles are produced artificially and
may be short-lived (pions, muons).
In traveling through matter, charged particles interact with nu-
clei, producing nuclear reactions and elastic and inelastic col-
lisions with the electrons (electronic collisions) and with entire
atoms of the absorber (atomic collisions). Usually, in its travel
through matter a charged particle makes few or no nuclear re-
actions or inelastic nuclear collisions, but many electronic and
atomic collisions. The average distance between successive col-
lisions is called the mean free path, λ. In solids, it is of the order
of 10 cm (4 in.) for nuclear reactions. It ranges from the diame-
ter of the atoms (about 10−10 m) to about 10−7 m for electronic
collisions. The mean free path, λ, depends on the properties of
the particle and, most importantly, on its velocity.
If a charged particle is accelerated, it can emit photons called
bremsstrahlung. This process is of great importance for electrons
as well as for heavy ions whose kinetic energies are much greater
than their rest energies. It is used extensively for the production
of x-rays in radiology. See BREMSSTRAHLUNG.

In gases, all electrons are bound to individual atoms or
molecules in well-defined orbits. These electrons can be moved
into other bound orbits (excitation) requiring a well-defined en-
ergy. Another possibility is the complete removal of the elec-
tron from the atom (ionization), requiring an energy equal to or
greater than the ionization energy for the particular electron. In
both processes, the charged particle will lose energy and will be
deflected very slightly.
There are some major differences between electron beams and
beams of heavier particles. In general, the path of an electron will
be a zigzag. Angular deflections in the collisions will frequently
be large. Electron beams therefore tend to spread out laterally,
and the number of primary electrons in the beam at a depth x
in the absorber decreases rapidly.
In general, for the same dose (the energy deposited per gram
along the beam line) heavy charged particles will produce, be-
cause of their higher local ionization, larger biological effects
than electrons (which frequently are produced by x-rays). See
NUCLEAR RADIATION (BIOLOGY); RADIATION BIOLOGY; RADIATION IN-
JURY (BIOLOGY).
Electron beams are used in the preservation of food. In
medicine, electron beams are used extensively to produce
x-rays for both diagnostic and therapeutic (cancer irradiation)
purposes. Also, in radiation therapy, deuteron beams incident
on Be and 3H targets are used to produce beams of fast neu-
trons, which in turn produce fast protons, alpha particles, and
carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen ions in the irradiated tissue. En-
ergetic pion, proton, alpha, and heavier ion beams can possibly
be used for cancer therapy. See RADIOLOGY.
Charged particle beams are used in many methods of chem-
ical and solid-state analysis. Nuclear activation analysis can be
performed with heavy ions. See ACTIVATION ANALYSIS; ELECTRON
DIFFRACTION; ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY; SECONDARY ION MASS SPEC-
TROMETRY (SIMS). [H.Bi.]
Beams of nuclei with lifetimes as short as 10−6 s are used for
studies in nuclear physics, astrophysics, biology, and materials
science. Nuclear beams (or heavy-ion beams) are usually pro-
duced by accelerating naturally available stable isotopes. How-
ever, radioactive nuclei, most of which do not occur naturally
on Earth, must be produced as required in nuclear reactions by
using various accelerated beams. Because these radioactive nu-
clei are produced by the nuclear reactions of primary beams,
they are called secondary particles and beams of such nuclei are
called radioactive secondary beams. See RADIOACTIVITY.
Radioactive secondary beams have made possible the study
of the structure of nuclei far from stability. Another important ap-
plication occurs in the study of nuclear reactions of importance in
hot stars and in supernovae, which are crucial for understand-
ing nucleosynthesis in the universe. See NUCLEAR STRUCTURE;
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS. [I.T.]
Charged particle optics The branch of physics con-
cerned with the motion of charged particles under the influence
of electric and magnetic fields. A positively charged particle that
moves in an electric field experiences a force in the direction of
this field. If the particle falls in the field from a potential of U volts
to a potential zero, its energy gain, measured in electronvolts, is
equal to the product of U and the particle’s charge. For example,
if a singly and a doubly charged particle are accelerated by a
potential drop of 100 V, the two particles will gain energies of
100 eV and 200 eV, respectively. If both particles were initially at
rest, they would have final velocities proportional to the square
root of K/m, where K is the energy increase and m is the mass
of the particle. This relation describes the velocities of energetic
particles accurately as long as these velocities are small com-
pared to the velocity of light c ≈ 300,000 km/s (186,000 mi/s),
a speed that cannot be exceeded by any particle. See ELECTRIC
FIELD; ELECTROSTATICS.
If an ensemble of ions of equal energies but of different masses
is accelerated simultaneously, the ion masses can be determined
Charm 417
from their arrival times after a certain flight distance. Such time-
of-flight mass spectrometers have successfully been used, for
instance, to investigate the masses of large molecular ions, up
to and beyond 350,000 atomic mass units. See TIME-OF-FLIGHT
SPECTROMETERS.
If a homogeneous electric field is established between two
parallel-plate electrodes at different potentials, a charged parti-
cle in the space between the electrodes will experience a force
in the direction perpendicular to them. If initially the particle
moved parallel to the electrodes, it will be deflected by the elec-
tric force and move along a parabolic trajectory. Magnetic fields
also deflect charged particles. In contrast to electrostatic fields,
however, magnetic fields change only the direction of a par-
ticle trajectory and not the magnitude of the particle velocity.
Charged particles that enter a magnetic field thus move along
circles whose radii increase with the products of their velocities
and their mass-to-charge ratios, m/q. If initially all particles start
at the same potential U and are accelerated to the potential zero,
they will move along radii that are proportional to the square
root of U(m/q). Thus, particles of different mass-to-charge ratios
can be separated in a magnetic sector field.
A sector-field mass analyzer can be used to determine the
masses of atomic or molecular ions in a cloud of such ions.
Such systems can also be used to purify a beam of ions that are
to be implanted in semiconductors in order to fabricate high-
performance transistors and diodes. Finally, such magnetic sec-
tor fields are found in large numbers in all types of particle ac-
celerators. See ION IMPLANTATION; MASS SPECTROSCOPE.
An Einzel lens consists of three cylindrical tubes, the middle
one of which is at a higher potential than the outer two. Positively
charged particles entering such a device are first decelerated and
then accelerated back to their initial energies. Axially symmet-
ric magnetic lenses have also been constructed. Such lenses,
also called solenoids, consist mainly of a coil of wire through
which an electric current is passed. The charged particles are
then constrained to move more or less parallel to the axis of
such a coil. Axially symmetric electric and magnetic lenses are
used extensively to focus low-energy particle beams. Particularly
important applications are in television tubes and in electron mi-
croscopes. See CATHODE-RAY TUBE; ELECTRON MICROSCOPE; ELEC-
TROSTATIC LENS; MAGNETIC LENS; PICTURE TUBE.
By passing charged particles through electrode or pole-face ar-
rangements, a particle beam can also be focused toward the optic
axis. In such quadrupole lenses the electric or the magnetic field
strengths, and therefore the forces that drive the charged parti-
cles toward or away from the optic axis, increase linearly with
the distance from the axis. While quadrupole lenses are found
in systems in which low-energy particle beams must be focused,
for instance, in mass spectrometers, such lenses have become
indispensable for high-energy beams. Consquently, quadrupole
lenses, especially magnetic ones, are found in many types of par-
ticle accelerators used in research in, for example, nuclear and
solid-state physics, as well as in cancer irradiation treatment fa-
cilities. See CHARGED PARTICLE BEAMS; ELECTRON LENS; ELECTRON
MOTION IN VACUUM; PARTICLE ACCELERATOR. [H.W.]
Charles’ law A thermodynamic law, also known as Gay-
Lussac’s law, which states that at constant pressure the volume of
a fixed mass or quantity of gas varies directly with the absolute
temperature. Conversely, at constant volume the gas pressure
varies directly with the absolute temperature. See GAS. [F.H.R.]
Charm A term used to describe a class of elementary par-
ticles. Ordinary atoms of matter consist of a nucleus composed
of neutrons and protons and surrounded by electrons. Over the
years, however, a host of other particles with unexpected prop-
erties have been found, associated with both electrons (leptons)
and protons (hadrons). The hadrons number in the hundreds,
and can be explained as composites of more fundamental con-
stituents, called quarks. The originally simple situation of having