Radiation damage to charge coupled devices in the space environment

Author

Yamashita, A. ; Dotani, T. ; Bautz, M. ; Crew, G. ; Ezuka, H. ; Gendreau, K. ; Kotani, T. ; Mitsuda, K. ; Otani, C. ; Rasmussen, A. ; Ricker, G. ; Tsunemi, H.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Space & Astronaut. Sci., Sagamihara, Japan

Volume

44

Issue

3

fYear

1997

fDate

6/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

847

Lastpage

853

Abstract

We have investigated the characteristics of radiation damage to charge coupled devices (CCDs) in the space environment. The X-ray astronomy satellite ASCA launched on February 20, 1993 in low Earth orbit carries CCDs specially developed for soft X-ray detection. We have traced the performance of the CCDs for 3 years. We have observed both the gradual decrease of charge transfer efficiency (CTE) and the increase of dark current. These are phenomenologically explained by the increase of charge traps due to irradiation by high energy charged particles. However, some of the effects of the radiation damage in the CCD are quite non-uniform over the chip on various scales. We discuss characteristics of the charge traps and possible origins of the non-uniformity

Keywords

X-ray astronomy; X-ray detection; astronomical instruments; charge-coupled devices; dark conductivity; radiation effects; silicon radiation detectors; ASCA; CCD; Si; X-ray astronomy satellite; charge coupled devices; charge transfer efficiency; charge traps; dark current; radiation damage; space environment; Charge coupled devices; Charge-coupled image sensors; Energy resolution; Low earth orbit satellites; Optical imaging; Space charge; Space technology; X-ray detection; X-ray detectors; X-ray imaging;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.603763

Filename

603763