12 March 2020 Delta-doped electron-multiplying CCDs for FIREBall-2
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Abstract

We present the status of on-going detector development efforts for our joint NASA/Centre National d’Études Spatiales balloon-borne UV multiobject spectrograph, the Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2; FB-2). FB-2 demonstrates a UV detector technology, the delta-doped electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD), in a low-risk suborbital environment, to prove the performance of EMCCDs for future space missions and technology readiness level advancement. EMCCDs can be used in photon-counting mode to achieve extremely low readout noise (<1 electron). Our testing has focused on reducing clock-induced-charge (CIC) through wave shaping and well-depth optimization with a Nüvü V2 CCCP controller, measuring CIC at 0.001  e  −    /  pixel  /  frame. This optimization also includes methods for reducing dark current, via cooling, and substrate voltage levels. We discuss the challenges of removing cosmic rays, which are also amplified by these detectors, as well as a data reduction pipeline designed for our noise measurement objectives. FB-2 flew in 2018, providing the first time an EMCCD, was used for UV observations in the stratosphere. FB-2 is currently being built up to fly again in 2020, and improvements are being made to the EMCCD to continue optimizing its performance for better noise control.

© 2020 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) 2329-4124/2020/$28.00 © 2020 SPIE
Gillian Kyne, Erika T. Hamden, Shouleh Nikzad, Keri Hoadley, April D. Jewell, Todd J. Jones, Michael E. Hoenk, Samuel R. Cheng, D. Christopher Martin, Nicole R. Lingner, David Schiminovich, Bruno Milliard, Robert Grange, and Olivier Daigle "Delta-doped electron-multiplying CCDs for FIREBall-2," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 6(1), 011007 (12 March 2020). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.6.1.011007
Received: 4 September 2019; Accepted: 20 February 2020; Published: 12 March 2020
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Cited by 4 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Electron multiplying charge coupled devices

Sensors

Charge-coupled devices

Clocks

Chromium

Spectrographs

Calibration

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