SCUBA: the submillimeter common-user bolometer array for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

We describe the design and manufacture of SCUBA, which is undergoing laboratory testing prior to commissioning on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. It contains two arrays, one of 91 pixels optimised for 450 micrometers and the second of 37 pixels optimised for 850 micrometers in close-packed arrays, with each pixel having diffraction-limited angular resolution. Some of the original design features of the instrument are described: the cryogenic system operating at 100mK; the optical layout; bolometer manufacture; and array integration. We illustrate the performance of the instrument with test results obtained during the laboratory commissioning.