A distributed floating-gate amplifier in charge-coupled devices

Wen, David D.; Early, J.M.; Kim, C.; Amelio, G. F.

doi:10.1109/isscc.1975.1155402

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Novel multiamplifier sensing (MAS) Skipper CCD designs represent an attractive solution to reducing readout times (Botti et al 2023;Holland 2023). MAS devices are loosely based on the distributed gate amplifier concept (Wen et al 1975) and consists of a serial register with M floating-gate amplifiers in series. Importantly, the readout time improvement from a MAS device goes as ∼1/M when compared to a single floating-gate amplifier from a conventional Skipper CCD.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization and Optimization of Skipper CCDs for the SOAR Integral Field Spectrograph

Villalpando,

Drlica-Wagner,

Plazas Malagón

et al. 2024

PASP

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We present results from the characterization and optimization of Skipper charge-coupled devices (CCDs) for use in a focal plane prototype for the Southern Astrophysical Research Integral Field Spectrograph (SIFS). We tested eight Skipper CCDs and selected six for SIFS based on performance results. The Skipper CCDs are 6k × 1k, 15 μm pixels, thick, fully depleted, p-channel devices that have been thinned to ∼250 μm, backside processed, and treated with an anti-reflective coating. We demonstrate a single-sample readout noise of <4.3 e− rms pixel−1 in all amplifiers. We optimize the readout sequence timing to achieve a readout noise of 0.5 e− rms pixel−1 after 74 non-destructive measurements, which can be accomplished in a region covering 5% of the detector area in a readout time of <4 minutes. We demonstrate single-photon-counting in all 24 amplifiers (four amplifiers per detector) with a readnoise of σ N ∼ 0.18 e− rms pixel−1 after N samp = 400 samples, and we constrain the degree of nonlinearity to be ≲1% at low signal levels (0 e− to 50 e−). Clock-induced charge (CIC) remains an important issue when the Skipper CCD is configured to provide a large full-well capacity. We achieve a CIC rate of <1.45 × 10−3 e− pixel−1 frame−1 for a full-well capacity of ∼900 e−, which increases to a CIC rate of ∼3 e− pixel−1 frame−1 for full-well capacities ∼40,000–65,000 e−. We also perform conventional CCD characterization measurements such as charge transfer inefficiency (3.44 × 10−7 on average), dark current (∼2 × 10−4 e− pixel−1 s−1), photon transfer curves, cosmetic defects (<0.45% “bad” pixels), and charge diffusion (point-spread function < 7.5 μm) to verify that these properties are consistent with expectations from conventional p-channel CCDs used for astronomy. Furthermore, we provide the first measurements of the brighter-fatter effect and absolute quantum efficiency (≳80% between 450 and 980 nm; ≳90% between 600 and 900 nm) using Skipper CCDs.

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Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization and Optimization of Skipper CCDs for the SOAR Integral Field Spectrograph

Villalpando,

Drlica-Wagner,

Plazas Malagón

et al. 2024

PASP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conceptually the final output signal was proportional to M × G × Q signal where M is the number of amplifiers, G is the gain of the charge amplifiers, and Q signal is the original signal level in electrons. A specific implementation is shown in (Wen et al 1975).…”

Section: Improvements In the Readout Speed For Skipper Ccdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The floating‐gate amplifier concept was introduced in 1973, and exploitation of the non‐destructive readout capability was mentioned in the context of a proposed “distributed floating‐gate amplifier” where the charge would be sensed by multiple amplifiers (Wen & Salsbury 1973). The first experimental results were presented shortly after the initial publication (Wen 1974), and this was followed by the demonstration of the readout of a CCD with a distributed floating‐gate amplifier (Wen et al 1975).…”

Section: Skipper Ccd Research and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second method investigated for faster readout speeds is loosely based on the distributed floating‐gate amplifier concept mentioned previously in Section 4 (Wen et al 1975; Wen & Salsbury 1973). In that work as well as a later proposal (Hynecek 1997), the charge was shifted along a serial register with multiple floating‐gate sense nodes.…”

Section: Improvements In the Readout Speed For Skipper Ccdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conceptually the final output signal was proportional to