CCD clocked charge transfer

For an Electron packet, a sufficiently positive gate electric potential attracts Electrons beneath the insulating layer of a MOS capacitor. The corresponding potential energy is $U=-e\varphi$, where $e>0$ is the magnitude of elementary charge: a larger electric potential gives a deeper potential well for Electrons. A drawing of potential energy must therefore reverse the vertical sense of a drawing of electric potential.

A simplified three-phase transfer raises the adjacent gate's electric potential before lowering the old holding gate. This overlaps the accessible regions, then leaves the packet under the new gate. Repeat with the next gate to move it forward. Isolated wells with an intervening barrier would store the packet without transferring it.^[ref]