Development of a 2048 X 2048 imager for scientific applications

A large-format CCD imager is described and tested. The CCD imager incorporates floating diffusion as well as floating gate amplifiers on a 2048 by 2048 format which was employed as the design base. The amplifiers are intended to allow repeated nondestructive read operations on individual pixels in the array. The serial register was separated into two independently clocked halves to permit simultaneous readout of all four quadrants of the imager. Extensive schematic layouts of the base model and modification are given. The results of a performance test are presented, showing good results in the cooling curve for average dark current, and for charge transfer characteristics. The amplifiers are intended to reduce net readout noise, and the simultaneous readout capability is intended to reduce total read time, although neither was fully tested. The large-format CCD imager is of interest for astronomical photography and spectroscopic applications.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.