CCD Optimisation Methods at LICK Observatory

Abstract

Many kinds of scientific CCDs, such as MIT / Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL) CCDs, SITe CCDs, Orbit Semiconductor CCDs and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) high resistivity CCDs, have been tested and optimised in the Lick Observatory CCD laboratory. In response to common problems and defects in CCDs and to operate the CCDs at their best performance, some methods of CCD optimisation have been developed and remarkable successes have been achieved. Many of these techniques have been used in the scientific CCD cameras of Lick and Keck telescopes. Some CCD problems occur only in individual CCDs, but some are common problems for many kinds of CCDs. This paper describes these “common” problems and presents the results of some of the methods developed to address those problems