Cryogenic testing of a 1024x1024 Si:As array for WISE

Abstract

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is a NASA MidEx mission which will survey the entire sky at 3.3, 4.7, 12 and 23 microns. As with most all-sky surveys, WISE results will address many fundamental topics, but the passbands and sensitivity are particularly well suited to study the distribution and evolutionary history of brown dwarfs and ultra-luminous IR galaxies. The two long wavelength bands will use 1024x1024 Si:As BIB detectors manufactured by DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems. NASA ARC has optimized the operating parameters as well as conducted detailed cryogenic performance and radiation testing of a prototype array. Dark current, noise performance, and radiation test results will be reported.

Characterization of flight detector arrays for the wide-field infrared survey explorer

“…5 Following the 2 krad(Si) dose, the median pixel's response decreased by 13%; however, thermally annealing the array returned the median response to within 4% of its original pre-radiation value. This indicates that corrections to the flat fields in bands W3 and W4 may be necessary following SAA passages; however, since the 2 krad(Si) dose applied was much larger than the anticipated 0.5 rad(Si) dose for each SAA passage, the effect on the flat fields may be much more gradual.…”

“…The results of the tests performed by the NASA-Ames group with a non-flight Si:As array at the U. C. Davis cyclotron show that the multiplexer is radiationhard at the 2 krad(Si) level. 5 As described in section 1.4.2, none of the pixels were damaged to the point of having dark currents in excess of 100 e-/sec. However, smaller changes in the dark current were noted (16% saw changes to the dark current >3 e-/sec), and about half of these pixels were returned to their pre-radiation values after a thermal anneal.…”

“…The arrays have been integrated into the WISE beamsplitter assembly (BSA; Figure 2), which in turn has been integrated into the WISE telescope assembly. In addition, many characterization tests have been performed at the NASA-Ames Infrared Laboratory using two non-flight Si:As arrays, one of which was chosen from the same detector wafer as the flight units 5 .…”

“…5 A non-flight Si:As array was taken to the U. C. Davis Crocker Nuclear Laboratory cyclotron by the NASA-Ames group and irradiated with a representative dose of protons, 2 krad(Si) as described in Dotson et al (2008). They found that 16% of formerly good pixels exhibited a change in dark current >3 e-/sec from the pre-dose level; this fraction dropped to 8% following a thermal anneal to 20 K. None of the pixels which were formerly good had dark currents >100 e-/sec after the dose.…”

The research progress of Si-based blocked-impurity-band infrared detecting materials and detectors

“…NASA 的斯皮策空间望远镜(Spitzer Space Telescope, SST)装 备了均为128×128像元规模的Si:As和Si:Sb BIB焦平面 阵列探测器(Focal Plane Arrays, FPAs) [8] . NASA的广域 红外线巡天探测卫星(Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, WISE)配备了1024×1024像元规模的Si:As BIB 焦平面探测器, 其探测灵敏度在中红外波段比COBE 高50万倍, 在远红外波段比IRAS高数千倍 [9][10][11] . 第二代 哈勃望远镜, 即詹姆斯韦伯空间望远镜(James Webb Space Telescope, JWST)也采用了1024×1024像元规模…”