We have a Princeton Instruments cooled CCD camera (PI 1300x1030 chip).
The hardware/software allows us to control the temperature of the CCD
array. Is there any reason to think that the chip (and/or the rest of
the unit) will have a longer life if operated at  -20 degrees C compared
to room temperature? The camera head throws off a lot of heat, and some
of this heat is presumed to be due to refrigeration. So when we don't
need extremely low background, we set the temp to room temp.

Thanks,

Chris


--
Christopher Kushmerick  <[log in to unmask]>

Dept. Farmacologia                              tel 55 31 3499 2707
Inst. Ciencias Biologicas                       fax 55 31 3499 2695
Universidade Federal Minas Gerais

Note new telephone and fax numbers.

Address correspondence to

Christopher Kushmerick
R. Des. Alarico Barroso 446/201
31310-380 Belo Horizonte
MG
Brazil