18) Character “S” imaged by 64-pixel CCD
Picture: Character “S” imaged by 64-pixel CCD in 1972 (Provided by Sony)
Kazuo Iwama, President of Sony America at that time, promptly
obtained the information of “CCD”, a new semiconductor device developed by
Bell Telephone Laboratories. He visited Bell Telephone Laboratories at the
end of 1969, and talked with Willard Boyle, one of the inventors of CCD. Iwama
intuitively recognized that this device would be useful for the development
of Sony consumer products.
In December 1970, Sony started a CCD development project at its Central Laboratory.
A young engineer, Shigeyuki Ochi, who later became Sony Executive Director,
was assigned as the leader of this project.
After they started the trial production, the device was completed relatively
easily. The 8-pixel chips first, and then 64-pixel chips as the next step.
The picture shows character “S” imaged by 64-pixel CCD completed in 1972,
which of course, shows the initial letter of Sony.
Iwama returned to Japan in 1973, and he became Deputy President and the head
of the Central Laboratory. The full-scale development of CCD started at this
point.