A generic, two-dimensional integrating detector based on a charge-coupled device (CCD) is being developed for applications in physical and biomedical research. A detector system, operating in a one-dimensional mode, in currently being designed for electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS); when operated in a two-dimensional mode it is suitable for electron imaging studies. An energy-loss spectrometer (Gatan 607) is being equipped with a magnifying quadrupole electron lens to produce an electron dispersion of ∼ 15 mm on a YAG: Ce scintillator. The scintillation light is coupled via an optical lens system to a 512 pixel × 512 pixel CCD. Energy-loss spectra are recorded successively in 5 pixel × 512 pixel frames. With a microscope beam current of 0.5 nA and electron energy of 120 keV, the exposure time for 100 frames is 40 ms and the readout and digitization time for 100 frames, using a 14-bit ADC, is 0.5 s. The statistical precision expected by summing the exposed 100 frames in the computer is 10 -4 for the zero-loss peak (DQE = 0.4). For a peak of 1/1000 the intensity of the zero-loss peak, the precision is 10 -2 (DQE = 0.2). To obtain the same precision (10 -2) with a 512-pixel linear photodiode array would require data from ∼280 frames and an acquisition time 35 times longer than the 40 ms exposure of 100 frames in the CCD.