Natural radiation events in CCD imagers at ground level

Abstract

International audienceIn Charged Coupled Devices (CCDs), radiation-induced events generate electron hole pairs in silicon that cause artifacts and contribute to degrade image quality. In this work, the impact of natural radiation at ground level has been characterized at sea level, in altitude and underground for a commercial full-frame CCD device. Results have been carefully analyzed in terms of event shape, size and hourly rates. The respective contributions of atmospheric radiation and telluric contamination from ultra-traces of alpha-particle emitters have been successfully separated and quantified. Experimental results have been compared with simulation results obtained from a dedicated radiation transport and interaction code. Highlights: • Image artifacts induced by natural radiation in CCD images are investigated • Radiation-induced events are analyzed in terms of pixel size and hourly rates • Numerical simulations give the contributions of the different particles to the event rate

Determination of local muon flux using astronomical Charge Coupled Device

“…As muons are low interaction particles, their paths through CCDs are recorded as straight lines, which make it possible to detect them easily from recoiling electrons and alpha particles. In most of the underground detectors CCDs are the key instruments for detecting muons [11]. Other advantages of using CCDs are their low cost, being compact, low weight and have a variety of sizes from very small to large which make it possible to use CCDs in many places as scientific detectors.…”

Interactions of Low-Energy Muons with Silicon: Numerical Simulation of Negative Muon Capture and Prospects for Soft Errors

“…For instance, muons can cause single-event upsets (SEUs) in static randomaccess memories (SRAMs), where a charged particle such as a muon strikes a sensitive node within an SRAM cell, resulting in a bit flip [3][4][5][6][7]. In charge-coupled devices (CCDs), muons, like other ionizing particles, can induce single-event effects (SEEs), leading to pixel-level errors and impacting the accuracy of recorded images [8][9][10]. The interaction of muons with the CCD substrate can also contribute to an increase in radiation-induced dark current, resulting in elevated background noise in images and reducing the ability to discern faint details.…”