“…During the integration time, each pixel in the HgCdTe layer has a high-field depletion area near the In bonds and a low-field diffusion area elsewhere, which allow for charge creation when a photon from the science targets hits the detector. However, when an energetic primary or secondary electron from the environment reaches this FPA, it will also generate charges along its path if its penetration depth is not too high, either in the depletion area which will be counted by the ROIC as additional signal in the hit pixel, or in the diffusion area in which case it may diffuse from the hit pixel to contiguous ones and be finally counted in another depletion area (see (Pickel et al, 2005)). This means that single electrons may generate several spikes in the shape of a cluster, especially if the incidence angle is high (Becker et al, 2005).…”