PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | September 25, 2012
Proc. SPIE. 8453, High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy V
KEYWORDS: Stars, Cameras, Sensors, Dielectrics, Interfaces, Manufacturing, Amplifiers, Image sensors, Charge-coupled devices, Silicon carbide
PLATO is a candidate mission for an European Space Agency M-class launch opportunity. The project aims to detect
exo-planets from their transits across host stars and to characterise those stars by studying their oscillations, hence the
name PLATO for, PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars. In order to achieve this aim the mission proposes to fly a
satellite with a focal plane of up to 34 mini-telescopes, each containing 4 large area back illuminated Charge-Coupled
Devices (CCDs) to provide ultra high precision photometry. If successful, the satellite will have nearly 0.9 m2 of image
sensors and will be by far the largest composite detector focal plane ever flown. To meet the mission requirements e2v
have developed the CCD270 which has 4510 by 4510 pixels, each pixel is 18 μm by 18 μm, in a development funded by
the European Space Agency. This large area (81 mm x 81 mm) full frame image sensor is intended for precision
photometry with a dynamic range in excess of 30,000. The CCD270 has been manufactured with a thinner gate dielectric
and a higher buried channel dose than standard devices to increase the full well capacity in the image area. The
additional advantages of the thinner gate are lower power dissipation, smaller clock voltage swing for standard channel
doses and higher tolerance to ionising radiation. This paper describes the imager sensor in detail and focuses on the novel
aspects of the device, package and interface.
