Evaluation of the GEC 385 x 576 charge-coupled device image sensor for astronomical use

A CCD camera prototype based on the GEC P8600 image sensor has been developed and evaluated for use in astronomy. The image sensor is a thick front-illuminated, buried channel, frame transfer CCD employing three-phase clocks in both the vertical and horizontal registers. It is organized in 576 rows of 385 pixels each, with a pixel size of 22 sq microns and is available as a normal thick device or as an epitaxial device, which has a response to cosmic rays comparable to that of a thinned device. The detector is shown to have low readout noise, high linearity, and large dynamic range. The dark current is normally low and the charge transfer efficiency is satisfactory even at a charge transfer level of only 400 electrons.