Advancing ultraviolet detector technology for future missions: investigating the dark current plateau in silicon detectors using photon-counting EMCCDs

Aafaque R. Khan; Erika Hamden; Gillian Kyne; April D. Jewell; John Henessey; Shouleh Nikzad; Vincent Picouet; Olivia Jones; Harrison Bradley; Nazende Kerkeser; Zeren Lin; Brock Parker; Grant West; John Ford; Frank Gacon; Dave Beaty; Jacob Vider

doi:10.1117/12.3021039

21 August 2024 Advancing ultraviolet detector technology for future missions: investigating the dark current plateau in silicon detectors using photon-counting EMCCDs

Aafaque R. Khan, Erika Hamden, Gillian Kyne, April D. Jewell, John Henessey, Shouleh Nikzad, Vincent Picouet, Olivia Jones, Harrison Bradley, Nazende Kerkeser, Zeren Lin, Brock Parker, Grant West, John Ford, Frank Gacon, Dave Beaty, Jacob Vider

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13093, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 130930O (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3021039
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Abstract

Understanding the noise characteristics of high quantum efficiency silicon-based ultraviolet detectors, developed by the Microdevices Lab at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is critical for current and proposed UV missions using these devices. In this paper, we provide an overview of our detector noise characterization test bench that uses delta-doped, photon counting, Electron-multiplying CCDs (EMCCDs) to understand the fundamental noise properties relevant to all silicon CCDs and CMOS arrays. This work attempts to identify the source of the dark current plateau that has been previously measured with photon-counting EMCCDs and is known to be prevalent in other silicon-based arrays. It is suspected that the plateau could be due to a combination of detectable photons in the tail of blackbody radiation of the ambient instrument, low-level light leaks, and a non-temperature-dependent component that varies with substrate voltage. Our innovative test setup delineates the effect of the ambient environment during dark measurements by independently controlling the temperature of the detector and surrounding environment. We present the design of the test setup and preliminary results.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Aafaque R. Khan, Erika Hamden, Gillian Kyne, April D. Jewell, John Henessey, Shouleh Nikzad, Vincent Picouet, Olivia Jones, Harrison Bradley, Nazende Kerkeser, Zeren Lin, Brock Parker, Grant West, John Ford, Frank Gacon, Dave Beaty, and Jacob Vider "Advancing ultraviolet detector technology for future missions: investigating the dark current plateau in silicon detectors using photon-counting EMCCDs", Proc. SPIE 13093, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 130930O (21 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3021039

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