
46-1
46.1 Introduction
Charge-coupled devices (CCDs) have become the detector of choice for sensitive, highly precise measure-
ment
of li
ght
ov
er
th
e
el
ectromagnetic
sp
ectrum
fr
om
th
e
ne
ar-infrared
(I
R)
(<
1
.1 μm) to th
e
x-
ray
ba
nd
(up to 10 keV). Key advantages of CCDs over their predecessors (photographic emulsions and vacuum
tube, electron beam readout devices such as vidicons and Silicon-intensier target (SIT) tubes) are high
quantum eciency (QE), high linearity, large dynamic range, relatively uniform cosmetic response, low
noise, and intrinsically digital image capture.
CCDs were initially designed as serial data storage media (an elec