This award will continue the development of a large charge-coupled device (CCD) imager optimized for astronomical observing. The end result should be a low-read-noise, thinned, buttable, ultra-violet (UV) and infrared (IR) sensitive CCD having 2400 X 800 pixels each 13.5 microns square. The surface will be flat and treated with oxide and platinum flash-gate plus anti-reflection coatings to provide the maximum possible sensitivity to light in the wavelength range 300 nm to 1 micron. This CCD will be similar to, but a significant improvement on, a commercially-available Reticon CCD developed under a previous NSF grant. Costs of the continued development program will be shared by EG&G Reticon and by the University of California Observatories/Lick Observatory (UCO/LO).
