Characterization of Low Light Performance of a CMOS sensor for Ultraviolet Astronomical Applications [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2112.01691


We report the performance of a radiation hardened SRI 4K$\times$2K CMOS image sensor at temperatures down to 140 K. A biasing scheme to suppress readout glow during long exposures is highly effective so that the 0.077 $\mathrm{m\mathrm{e^-}/s}$ dark current floor is reached at 160 K, rising to 1 $\mathrm{m}\mathrm{e^-}\mathrm{s}$ at 184 K. We examine the trade-off between readout speed and read noise, finding that 1.43 $\mathrm{e^-}$ median read noise is achieved using line-wise digital correlated double sampling at 700 $\mathrm{kpix/s/ch}$ which corresponds to 1.5 $\mathrm{s}$ readout time. The 15 $\mathrm{k}\mathrm{e^-}$ well capacity in high gain mode is extended to 120 $\mathrm{k}\mathrm{e^-}$ in dual gain mode. Continued collection of photo-generated charge during readout makes possible a further dynamic range extension beyond $10^6\,\mathrm{e^-}$ effective well capacity with only $1\%$ loss of exposure efficiency by combining short and long exposures. A quadratic fit to correct for non-linearity reduces gain correction residuals from $1.5\%$ to $0.2\%$ in low gain mode and to $0.4\%$ in high gain mode. Crosstalk to adjacent pixels is only $0.4\%$ vertically, $0.6\%$ horizontally and $0.1\%$ diagonally. These characteristics plus the relatively large ($10\mathrm{\mu}\mathrm{m}$) pixel size, quasi 4-side buttability, electronic shutter and subarray readout make this sensor an excellent choice for wide field imaging in space, even at FUV wavelengths where sky background is very low.

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T. Greffe, R. Smith, M. Sherman, et. al.
Mon, 6 Dec 21
26/61

Comments: 37 pages, 24 figures, 3 tables