Germanium charge-coupled devices for hard x-ray astronomy

C. W. Leitz; K. Donlon; D. Young; R. Lambert; M. Collins; B. Burke; M. Zhu; S. Rabe; M. Cooper; D. O'Mara

doi:10.1117/12.2562583

13 December 2020 Germanium charge-coupled devices for hard x-ray astronomy

C. W. Leitz, K. Donlon, D. Young, R. Lambert, M. Collins, B. Burke, M. Zhu, S. Rabe, M. Cooper, D. O'Mara

Proceedings Volume 11454, X-Ray, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy IX; 114541B (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562583
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

A germanium charge-coupled device (CCD) offers all of the advantages of silicon CCDs – notably excellent uniformity, high energy resolution, and noiseless on-chip charge summation – but covers an even broader spectral range, extending into the hard X-ray band. MIT Lincoln Laboratory has been developing germanium CCDs for applications in astrophysics, with the goal of realizing megapixel-class arrays with read noise less than a few electrons, sensitivity to both soft and hard X-rays, and high energy resolution. We recently realized our first small pixel arrays and have since been working to increase both the format and performance of these devices. In this article, we discuss performance improvements, identification of yield-limiting process steps in fabrication of frontside-illuminated devices, fabrication and analysis of our first backside-illuminated detectors, and design of prototypes which includes a 512 × 512 pixel frame-transfer CCD with 24 µm pixel pitch.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

C. W. Leitz, K. Donlon, D. Young, R. Lambert, M. Collins, B. Burke, M. Zhu, S. Rabe, M. Cooper, and D. O'Mara "Germanium charge-coupled devices for hard x-ray astronomy", Proc. SPIE 11454, X-Ray, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy IX, 114541B (13 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562583

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