Characteristics of Large Area CCD Imaging Systems

A review is presented of rear-illuminated CCD imagers having 400 × 400 resolution elements fabricated with a double level anodized aluminum electrode system. The application of these imagers is to deep space photography where array data rates of 10KHz are required and an operating temperature of -40°C is possible. The performance of the 400 × 400 will be discussed and comparisons made to the operating parameters of a smaller 160 × 100 array fabricated with the same technology. Finally, a review of effects of gamma radiation on device performance will be presented.