CoRoT Satellite: Analysis of the In-Orbit CCD Dark Current Degradation

This paper presents the analysis of the CoRoT CCDs dark current degradation measured during more than 2.5 years in orbit. Starting from on-ground irradiation results obtained during the space qualification of the detectors, a model is proposed to calculate the in-orbit pixel dark current distribution (including the hot pixels one). The modeling results are found to be in good agreement with the in-flight data. We therefore use this model to extrapolate the evolution of the dark signal distribution beyond 2.5 years. This is of primary interest in the context of a mission duration extension to 6 years proposed for the CoRoT mission.

[1]  Cheryl J. Dale,et al.  Proton-induced displacement damage distributions and extremes in silicon microvolumes charge injection device , 1990 .

[2]  P. Marshall,et al.  Proton effects in charge-coupled devices , 1996 .

[3]  P. Calvel,et al.  A toolkit for space environment , 2003, Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Radiation and Its Effects on Components and Systems, 2003. RADECS 2003..

[4]  M. S. Robbins,et al.  High-energy proton-induced dark signal in silicon charge coupled devices , 2000 .

[5]  P. Marshall,et al.  The generation lifetime damage factor and its variance in silicon , 1989 .

[6]  Sorin Cristoloveanu,et al.  Charge separation techniques for irradiated pseudo-MOS SOI transistors , 2003 .

[7]  John Romnako,et al.  Space Radiation Effects , 1964 .

[8]  Cheryl J. Dale,et al.  Particle-induced spatial dark current fluctuations in focal plane arrays , 1990 .

[9]  W.-H.E. Liu,et al.  A least squares solution for optimal power flow sensitivity calculation , 1991 .

[10]  Robert J. Walters,et al.  Proton nonionizing energy loss (NIEL) for device applications , 2003 .

[11]  O. Gilard,et al.  New Approach for the Prediction of CCD Dark Current Distribution in a Space Radiation Environment , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[12]  P. Marshall,et al.  Proton-induced displacement damage fluctuations in silicon microvolumes , 1991 .

[13]  P. Calvel,et al.  Evaluation and prediction of the degradation of a COTS CCD induced by displacement damage , 2002 .

[14]  J. Ziegler.  THE STOPPING AND RANGE OF IONS IN SOLIDS , 1988 .