Comprehensive detector test platform with precision thermal control for noise characterization of charge-coupled devices

Year: 2025 DOI: 10.1117/1.jatis.11.4.042204
We present the design, development, and end-to-end testing of a unique setup for characterizing the noise performance of silicon-based, photon-counting detectors, using delta-doped detectors developed at Jet Propulsion Lab’s Microdevices Laboratory in collaboration with Teledyne-e2v. Combined with atomic layer deposition coatings, delta-doped detectors have been demonstrated to achieve high quantum efficiency (QE) in the ultraviolet, enabling several UV missions (e.g., FIREBall-2, UVEX, SPARCS, and SHIELDS) and proposals (e.g., Hyperion, UVscope, Eos, and others). Understanding the noise performance of these detectors and developing strategies and designs to minimize that noise is important for future applications such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). For instance, delta-doped electron multiplying charge-coupled devices have been identified as a target technology for HWO. This test setup is designed to investigate the impact of the ambient thermal environment, where these detectors are operated, on their noise performance, specifically focusing on the dark current plateau observed below 163 K. This plateau limits the signal-to-noise ratio that can be achieved in the photon-counting mode and has broader implications for the noise performance of silicon-based detectors. The test bench incorporates a delta-doped Teledyne-e2v CCD201-20 readout with a Nüvü CCCP v3 controller at 1 MHz and features a dual cooling system: a cryocooler for the detector and a liquid nitrogen–cooled thermal shroud to simulate a temperature-controlled ambient environment. We describe the design of the test setup, including independent thermal control for the detector and shroud, as well as the validation, optimization, and characterization process for the testbed. The testbed allows for further characterization of the noise performance of the detector, optimization of readout sequences, and operations for low clock-induced charge. First measurements of dark rate were taken across a range of detector temperatures (183 K to 143 K), shroud temperatures (298 K to 180 K), with substrate voltage set to 0 V. We find that the measured dark rate is notably lower with the shroud is cooled to 230 K in comparison with similar measurements with a shroud at 298 K. The reduction in dark rate is potentially due to a decrease in optical/NIR photons emitted from the shroud.