Low-noise transition edge sensor (TES) for SAFARI instrument on SPICA

P. Khosropanah; B. Dirks; M. Parra-Borderías; M. Ridder; R. Hijmering; J. van der Kuur; L. Gottardi; M. Bruijn; M. Popescu; J. R. Gao; H. Hoevers

doi:10.1117/12.857725

15 July 2010 Low-noise transition edge sensor (TES) for SAFARI instrument on SPICA

P. Khosropanah, B. Dirks, M. Parra-Borderías, M. Ridder, R. Hijmering, J. van der Kuur, L. Gottardi, M. Bruijn, M. Popescu, J. R. Gao, H. Hoevers

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7741, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V; 77410L (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857725
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Transition edge sensor (TES) is the selected detector for the SAFARI FIR imaging spectrometer (focal plane arrays covering a wavelength range from 30 to 210 μm) on the Japanese SPICA telescope. Since the telescope is cooled to <7 K, the instrument sensitivity is limited by the detector noise. Therefore among all the requirements, a crucial one is the sensitivity, which should reach an NEP (Noise Equivalent Power) as low as 3E^-19 W/Hz^0.5 for a base temperature of >50 mK. Also the time constant should be below 8 ms. We fabricated and characterized low thermal conductance transition edge sensors (TES) for SAFARI instrument on SPICA. The device is based on a superconducting Ti/Au bilayer deposited on suspended SiN membrane. The critical temperature of the device is 155 mK. The low thermal conductance is realized by using narrow SiN ring-like supporting structures. All measurements were performed having the device in a light-tight box, which to a great extent eliminates the loading of the background radiation. We measured the current-voltage (IV) characteristics of the device in different bath temperatures and determine the thermal conductance (G) to be equal to 1.66 pW/K. This value corresponds to a noise equivalent power (NEP) of 1E^-18 W/√Hz. The current noise and complex impedance is also measured at different bias points at 25 mK bath temperature. The measured electrical (dark) NEP is 2E^-18 W/√Hz, which is about a factor of 2 higher than what we expect from the thermal conductance that comes out of the IV curves. Despite using a light-tight box, the photon noise might still be the source of this excess noise. We also measured the complex impedance of the same device at several bias points. Fitting a simple first order thermal-electrical model to the measured data, we find an effective time constant of about 65 μs and a thermal capacity of 3-4 fJ/K in the middle of the transition

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P. Khosropanah, B. Dirks, M. Parra-Borderías, M. Ridder, R. Hijmering, J. van der Kuur, L. Gottardi, M. Bruijn, M. Popescu, J. R. Gao, and H. Hoevers "Low-noise transition edge sensor (TES) for SAFARI instrument on SPICA", Proc. SPIE 7741, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 77410L (15 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857725

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