Progress of the x-ray CCD camera development for the eROSITA telescope

The eROSITA space telescope is presently developed for the determination of cosmological parameters and the equation of state of dark energy via evolution of galaxy clusters. It will perform in addition a census of the obscured black hole growth in the Universe. The instrument development was also strongly motivated by the intention of a first imaging X-ray all-sky survey above an energy of 2 keV. eROSITA is scientific payload on the Russian research satellite SRG and the mission duration is scheduled for 7.5 years. The instrument comprises an array of seven identical and parallel-aligned telescopes. The mirror system is of Wolter-I type and the focal plane is equipped with a PNCCD camera for each of the telescopes. This instrumentation permits spectroscopy and imaging of X-rays in the energy band from 0.3 keV to 10 keV with a field of view of 1.0 degree. The camera development is done at the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and in particular the key component, the PNCCD sensor, has been designed and fabricated at the semiconductor laboratory of the Max-Planck Society. All produced devices have been tested and the best selected for the eROSITA project. Based on calculations, simulations, and experimental testing of prototype systems, the flight cameras have been configured. We describe the detector and its performance, the camera design and electronics, the thermal system, and report on the latest estimates of the expected radiation damage taking into account the generation of secondary neutrons. The most recent test results will be presented as well as the status of the instrument development.