We report first results of laboratory tests of Si:As blocked-impurity-band (BIB) mid-infrared (4 to 28 um) detectors developed by IMEC. These prototypes feature 88 pixels hybridized on an integrated cryogenic readout electronics (CRE). They were developed as part of a technology demonstration program for the future DARWIN mission. In order to be able to separate detector and readout effects, a custom build TIA circuitry was used to characterize additional single pixel detectors. We used a newly designed test setup at the MPIA to determine the relative spectral response, the quantum efficiency, and the dark current. All these properties were measured as a function of operating temperature and detector bias. In addition the effects of ionizing radiation on the detector were studied. For determining the relative spectral response we used a dual-grating monochromator and a bolometer with known response that was operated in parallel to the Si:As detectors. The quantum efficiency was measured by using a custom-build high-precision vacuum black body together with cold (T ~ 4 K) filters of known (measured) transmission.
@article{arxiv.0807.1410,
title = {Cold performance tests of blocked-impurity-band Si:As detectors developed for DARWIN},
author = {Stephan M. Birkmann and Jutta Stegmaier and Ulrich Groezinger and Oliver Krause and Tim Souverijns and Jan Putzeys and Deniz Sabuncuoglu Tezcan and Koen De Munck and Paolo Fiorini and Kiki Minoglou and Patrick Merken and Chris Van Hoof and Piet De Moor},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0807.1410},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
11 pages, 8 figures, to appear in "High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy" SPIE conference Proc. 7021, Marseille, 23-28 June 2008