  X-ray Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) have been the workhorse for soft X-ray
astronomical instruments for the past quarter century. They provide broad
energy response, extremely low electronic read noise, and good energy
resolution in soft X-rays. These properties, along with the large arrays and
small pixel sizes available with modern-day CCDs, make them a potential
candidate for next generation astronomical X-ray missions equipped with large
collecting areas, high angular resolutions and wide fields of view, enabling
observation of the faint, diffuse and high redshift X-ray universe. However,
such high collecting area (about 30 times Chandra) requires these detectors to
have an order of magnitude faster readout than current CCDs to avoid saturation
and pile up effects. In this context, Stanford University and MIT have
initiated the development of fast readout X-ray cameras. As a tool for this
development, we have designed a fast readout, low noise electronics board
(intended to work at a 5 Megapixel per second data rate) coupled with an STA
Archon controller to readout a 512 x 512 CCD (from MIT Lincoln Laboratory).
This versatile setup allows us to study a number of parameters and operation
conditions including the option for digital shaping. In this paper, we describe
the characterization test stand, the concept and development of the readout
electronics, and simulation results. We also report the first measurements of
read noise, energy resolution and other parameters from this set up. While this
is very much a prototype, we plan to use larger, multi-node CCD devices in the
future with dedicated ASIC readout systems to enable faster, parallel readout
of the CCDs.
