LARGE-AREA BACK-ILLUMINATED CCD IMAGER DEVELOPMENT

We describe recent work in the area of large, back-illuminated CCD ima gers at M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory as well as new technology applicable to astronomy. We completed in 1995 the development of a 2560 x 1960-p ixel frame-transfer imager that filled a 100-mm wafer and several back -illuminated versions of this device were completed. More recently we have begun the development, in collaboration with the U. of Hawaii, of a three-side abuttable 2k x 4k CCD for a multi-chip focal plane. In t he unused chord area of the wafer layout, we added test imagers as dev elopment vehicles for blooming control and for the demonstration of a CCD that is capable of charge transfer in all four directions. Ne expe ct the latter to find application as an electronic means of performing tip-tilt correction to compensate for atmospheric turbulence.