In this study we investigate the performance characteristics of modern scientific Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs). After a brief introduction of the basic principles of CCDs, a systematic study of dark current, caused by thermally excited electrons, is presented. An outline of a software solution to automatically correct for dark current is described. It is further shown that the temperature dependence of the dark current of different pixels follows the Meyer-Neldel rule (MNR). The MNR is the result of two separate thermally activated processes. In the second half of the book a model is...