Non-ionising radiation effects in a soft X-ray CMOS image sensor

Townsend-Rose, Charles; Buggey, Thomas W.; Ivory, James M.; Dazzazi, Imane; Stefanov, Konstantin D. and Hall, David J. (2024). Non-ionising radiation effects in a soft X-ray CMOS image sensor. In: Proc. SPIE 13103, X-Ray, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy XI, article no. 131031B.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3016669

Abstract

CIS221-X is a prototype monolithic CMOS image sensor, optimised for soft X-ray astronomy and developed for the proposed European Space Agency THESEUS mission. One significant advantage of CMOS technology is its resistance to radiation damage. To assess this resistance, three backside-illuminated CIS221-X detectors have been irradiated with 10 MeV protons using the MC40 Cyclotron Facility at the University of Birmingham, UK. Each detector received ½, 1 and 2 THESEUS end-of-life proton fluences (6.65 × 10⁸ p⁺/cm²). One had already been exposed to ionising radiation (up to 59.04krad TID) during a previous radiation campaign. Using unirradiated readout electronics, the electro-optical performance of each device has been measured before and after proton irradiation. No significant change was observed in the readout noise and image lag. An increase in mean dark current was recorded, as was an increase in the number of hot pixels. The degradation of CIS221-X performance due to non-ionising radiation effects is similar to that of comparable CMOS image sensors.

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