Proceedings Article | 20 May 2020
Proc. SPIE. 11388, Image Sensing Technologies: Materials, Devices, Systems, and Applications VII
KEYWORDS: Indium gallium arsenide, Contamination, Sun, Sensors, Ions, Gallium arsenide, Photography, Photodiodes, Receivers, Space operations
We present pre and post space flight test results of 2.2 micron InGaAs Photodiode and GaAs Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA), Optical Receivers that flew to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Materials International Space Station Experiment 9 (MISSE-9) payload. The two optical receivers having two different RF packages exhibit bandwidth of 9 GHz or more, and were fiber coupled with a single mode fiber. They were launched in April 2018 to the ISS, and returned to Earth in June 2019 for a cumulative time period of over 13 months. During their time on the ISS, we noted the entry and exit points into the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) on a daily basis, and thus, recorded the total time the Extended InGaAs Optical Receivers were exposed to it. It has been shown that the exposure to heavy ions and protons, especially during the SAA transit, cause the most failures to electronic components. We also recorded the daily temperatures they were exposed to during their stay on the ISS, as well as the cumulative radiation dose they experienced through a dedicated dosimeter placed in close proximity to the devices. After analyzing the pre and post flight data on dark current, quantum efficiency, bandwidth, bit error rate, and other 14 different parameters, we did not observe any major degradation in the two device’s performance. Additionally, both RF packages, did not suffer any damage due to the mechanical shock and vibration of the space flight, including the launch and return to Earth.