Development of Radiation Hard Silicon Charge-Coupled Devices

Improvement of radiation hardness of CCDs for space applications is extremely important for extending the life of the CCDs. For low orbit satellites the proton damage is most important which reduces the Charge Transfer Efficiency (CTE) and increases the noise of the devices. Charge particles create displacement damage in the silicon lattice which in turn form phosphorous-vacancy (P-V) complex which acts as electron traps. Formation of the trapping centers need to be better understood for designing radiation performance CCDs in the future. By using the software package called Transport of Radiation in Matter (TRIM), we will analyze the formation of defects and defect complexes in the device structures for the CCD devices. Particular attention will be paid to the formation of vacancy complexes by protons and other charged particles. After studying the trap formation process theoretically, we will experimentally verify them by using the accelerator at Harvard University. After we have a good model for the trap formation, we will design device structures as well as plan experiments which will be implemented during Phase II leading to extremely high performance devices for rad hard applications. These devices can be used both for military and commercial space applications.