MCRC V1: development of integrated readout electronics for next generation x-ray CCD detectors for future satellite observatories

Herrmann, Sven; Wong, Jonathan; Chattopadhyay, Tanmoy; Morris, R. Glenn; Burke, Barry E.; Prigozhin, G.; Cooper, M. C.; Craig, David; Donlon, Kevan; Foster, R.F.; Malonis, Andrew; Bautz, M. W.; Allen, S. W.

doi:10.1117/12.2561741

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Our work, which also has potential applications in probe-class, Explorer, and small missions, has focused on demonstrating fast, low-noise output amplifiers, low-power charge-transfer clocking, and development of appropriate application-specific circuits. 17 One of the devices we have tested features a relatively small pixel (8 μm) and a depletion thickness of ∼50 μm, and thus also offers the opportunity to evaluate the interplay of pixel size and charge diffusion in a sensor with a pixel thickness to width pixel-size ratio near that required for Lynx and AXIS. In this paper, we report measurements of charge packet size distributions as a function of device bias and x-ray energy obtained with this device.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement and simulation of charge diffusion in a small-pixel charge-coupled device

LaMarr

Prigozhin

Miller

et al. 2022

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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Future high-resolution imaging x-ray observatories may require detectors with both fine spatial resolution and high quantum efficiency at relatively high x-ray energies (E ≥ 5 keV). A silicon imaging detector meeting these requirements will have a ratio of detector thickness to pixel size of six or more, roughly twice that of legacy imaging sensors. The larger aspect ratio of such a sensor's detection volume implies greater diffusion of x-ray-produced charge packets. We investigate consequences of this fact for sensor performance, reporting charge diffusion measurements in a fully depleted back-illuminated CCD with a thickness of 50 μm and pixel size of 8 μm. We are able to measure the size distributions of charge packets produced by 5.9 and 1.25 keV x-rays in this device. We find that individual charge packets exhibit a Gaussian spatial distribution and determine the frequency distribution of event widths for a range of detector bias (and thus internal electric field strength) levels. At the largest bias, we find a standard deviation for the largest charge packets (produced by x-ray interactions closest to the entrance surface of the device) of 3.9 μm. We show that the shape of the event width distribution provides a clear indicator of full depletion and use a previously developed technique to infer the relationship between event width and interaction depth. We compare measured width distributions to simulations. Although we can obtain good agreement for a given detector bias, with our current simulation, we are unable to fit the data for the full range of bias levels with a single set of simulation parameters. We compare traditional, "sum-above-threshold" algorithms for individual event amplitude determination to Gaussian fitting of individual events and find that better spectroscopic performance is obtained with the former for 5.9 keV events, whereas the two methods provide comparable results at 1.25 keV. The reasons for this difference are discussed. We point out the importance of read-noise driven charge detection thresholds in degrading spectral resolution, and note that the derived read noise requirements for mission concepts such as AXIS and Lynx are probably too lax to assure that spectral resolution requirements can be met. While the measurements reported here were made with a CCD, we note that they have implications for the performance of high aspect-ratio silicon active pixel sensors as well.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement and simulation of charge diffusion in a small-pixel charge-coupled device

LaMarr

Prigozhin

Miller

et al. 2022

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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“…An alternate approach might be to use a fast MOSFET clock driver to source buffer the reset clock. In parallel to these improvements, an ASIC based readout system development is ongoing that integrates the same readout module architecture as described in this paper to support parallel readout of larger arrays of X-ray CCDs [20]. and above all as a kind human being.…”

Section: Summary and Future Plansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and characterization of a fast and low noise readout for the next generation X-ray CCDs

Chattopadhyay,

Herrmann,

Orel

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The broad energy response, low electronic read noise, and good energy resolution have made X-ray Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) an obvious choice for developing soft X-ray astronomical instruments over the last half century. They also come in large array formats with small pixel sizes which make them a potential candidate for the next generation astronomical X-ray missions. However, the next generation X-ray telescopic experiments propose for significantly larger collecting area compared to the existing observatories in order to explore the low luminosity and high redshift X-ray universe which requires these detectors to have an order of magnitude faster readout. In this context, the Stanford University (SU) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has initiated the development of fast readout electronics for X-ray CCDs. At SU, we have designed and developed a fast and low noise readout module with the goal of achieving a readout speed of 5 Mpixel/s. We successfully ran a prototype CCD matrix of 512 × 512 pixels at 4 Mpixels/s. In this paper, we describe the details of the readout electronics and report the performance of the detectors at these readout speeds in terms of read noise and energy resolution. In the future, we plan to continue to improve performance of the readout module and eventually converge to a dedicated ASIC based readout system to enable parallel read out of large array multi-node CCD devices.

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“…One of the goals of our ongoing SiSeRO development program is to characterize larger arrays of SiSeROs with multiple parallel readouts; the first examples will be fabricated in the near future. We have developed an ASIC-based readout system at SU to enable parallel readout of these devices, the details of which can be found in [8] and other papers submitted in this conference [10]. Apart from the improvements in the readout electronics and analysis software, we plan to continue testing the buried-channel devices in combination with detailed device simulations to mature the SiSeRO technology.…”

Section: Summary and Future Plansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single electron Sensitive Readout (SiSeRO) X-ray detectors: Technological progress and characterization

Chattopadhyay¹,

Herrmann²,

Orel³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Single electron Sensitive Read Out (SiSeRO) is a novel on-chip charge detector output stage for charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors. Developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, this technology uses a p-MOSFET transistor with a depleted internal gate beneath the transistor channel. The transistor source-drain current is modulated by the transfer of charge into the internal gate. At Stanford, we have developed a readout module based on the drain current of the on-chip transistor to characterize the device. Characterization was performed for a number of prototype sensors with different device architectures, e.g. location of the internal gate, MOSFET polysilicon gate structure, and location of the trough in the internal gate with respect to the source and drain of the MOSFET (the trough is introduced to confine the charge in the internal gate). Using a buried-channel SiSeRO, we have achieved a charge/current conversion gain of >700 pA per electron, an equivalent noise charge (ENC) of around 6 electrons root mean square (RMS), and a full width half maximum (FWHM) of approximately 140 eV at 5.9 keV at a readout speed of 625 Kpixel/s. In this paper, we discuss the SiSeRO working principle, the readout module developed at Stanford, and the characterization test results of the SiSeRO prototypes. We also discuss the potential to implement Repetitive Non-Destructive Readout (RNDR) with these devices and the preliminary results which can in principle yield sub-electron ENC performance. Additional measurements and detailed device simulations will be essential to mature the SiSeRO technology. However, this new device class presents an exciting technology for next generation astronomical X-ray telescopes requiring fast, low-noise, radiation hard megapixel imagers with moderate spectroscopic resolution.

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MCRC V1: development of integrated readout electronics for next generation x-ray CCD detectors for future satellite observatories

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Measurement and simulation of charge diffusion in a small-pixel charge-coupled device

Measurement and simulation of charge diffusion in a small-pixel charge-coupled device

Development and characterization of a fast and low noise readout for the next generation X-ray CCDs

Single electron Sensitive Readout (SiSeRO) X-ray detectors: Technological progress and characterization

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