A CCD vertex detector for the future linear collider

The future e/sup +/e/sup -/ linear collider (LC) will be crucial to developing an understanding of the open questions in particle physics, and an important tool in the investigations at the LC will be the efficient identification of heavy quarks. Experiments must therefore be equipped with high precision, low mass vertex detectors (VXDs). This paper describes progress in the design and development of a CCD based VXD for the LC. In particular, the results of simulations of the high-speed readout necessary if the LC is of the TESLA type are presented, as are first studies of self-supporting CCD ladders, which allow a further reduction in the already small material budget of the VXD.