The CCD systems on La Palma use a variety of chip types; the earlier RCA-SID501 and GEC-P8603 have now been superseded by larger devices, primarily EEV P88300 and Tektronix 1024 square chips. Table summarises important general parameters of the types of CCD chip available; La Palma Technical Notes 55 and 93 describe some of the CCDs in rather more detail.
It can be seen that there are a range of formats and performances available. The thinned TEK (and the older GEC7 and RCA) chips have a higher efficiency at most wavelengths, and so are better suited for most imaging applications. The lowest readout noise chips are usually preferred for most spectroscopic applications. The overall high efficiency, and low noise of the TEK CCDs makes them the preferred sensor for most general use. See also section . for a discussion about choice of detector. It should be noted that we hope to introduce larger, high performance CCDs in the next 2 years- refer to RGO for latest information.