X-ray CCDs

Holland, A. (2010). X-ray CCDs. In: Huber, M. C. E.; Pauluhn, A.; Culhane, J. L.; Timothy, J. G.; Wilhelm, K. and Zehnder, A. eds. Observing photons in space. ISSI Scientific Report (9). The Netherlands: ESA Publications Division, pp. 409–418.

Abstract

In recent years, the silicon charge coupled device (CCD) has found use in many applications in space science providing imaging solutions to a variety of instrument needs. Whilst the majority of imaging applications using CCDs are in the visible region, the ability of silicon to perform efficient detection of X-rays in the 0.1 keV to 10 keV band enables their use in, for example, X-ray astronomy. Since the early 1990s several instruments have been flown using X-ray-optimised CCDs as both non-imaging and imaging detectors at the focal planes of X-ray telescopes. This chapter reviews the use of the silicon CCD for direct detection in the X-ray region and describes some successful applications, together with radiation damage effects when used in the space environment.

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