CMOS detectors: lessons learned during the STC stereo channel preflight calibration

The Stereo Camera (STC), mounted on-board the BepiColombo spacecraft, will acquire in push frame stereo mode the entire surface of Mercury. STC will provide the images for the global three-dimensional reconstruction of the surface of the innermost planet of the Solar System. The launch of BepiColombo is foreseen in 2018. STC has an innovative optical system configuration, which allows good optical performances with a mass and volume reduction of a factor two with respect to classical stereo camera approach. In such a telescope, two different optical paths inclined of ±20°, with respect to the nadir direction, are merged together in a unique off axis path and focused on a single detector. The focal plane is equipped with a 2k x 2k hybrid Si-PIN detector, based on CMOS technology, combining low read-out noise, high radiation hardness, compactness, lack of parasitic light, capability of snapshot image acquisition and short exposure times (less than 1 ms) and small pixel size (10 μm). During the preflight calibration campaign of STC, some detector spurious effects have been noticed. Analyzing the images taken during the calibration phase, two different signals affecting the background level have been measured. These signals can reduce the detector dynamics down to a factor of 1/4th and they are not due to dark current, stray light or similar effects. In this work we will describe all the features of these unwilled effects, and the calibration procedures we developed to analyze them.