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The Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) team has identified five key technologies to enable candidate architectures for the future large-aperture ultraviolet/optical/infrared (LUVOIR) space observatory envisioned by the NASA Astrophysics 30-year roadmap, Enduring Quests, Daring Visions. The science goals of ATLAST address a broad range of astrophysical questions from early galaxy and star formation to the processes that contributed to the formation of life on Earth, combining general astrophysics with direct-imaging and spectroscopy of habitable exoplanets. The key technologies are: internal coronagraphs, starshades (or external occulters), ultra-stable large-aperture telescopes, detectors, and mirror coatings. Selected technology performance goals include: 1x10-10 raw contrast at an inner working angle of 35 milli-arcseconds, wavefront error stability on the order of 10 pm RMS per wavefront control step, autonomous on-board sensing and control, and zero-read-noise single-photon detectors spanning the exoplanet science bandpass between 400 nm and 1.8 μm. Development of these technologies will provide significant advances over current and planned observatories in terms of sensitivity, angular resolution, stability, and high-contrast imaging. The science goals of ATLAST are presented and flowed down to top-level telescope and instrument performance requirements in the context of a reference architecture: a 10-meter-class, segmented aperture telescope operating at room temperature (~290 K) at the sun-Earth Lagrange-2 point. For each technology area, we define best estimates of required capabilities, current state-of-the-art performance, and current Technology Readiness Level (TRL) – thus identifying the current technology gap. We report on current, planned, or recommended efforts to develop each technology to TRL 5.

Surface resistivity is an important parameter of multi-electrode CZT detectors such as coplanar-grid, strip, or pixel detectors. Low surface resistivity results in a high leakage current and affects the charge collection efficiency in the areas near contacts. Thus, it is always desirable to have the surface resistivity of the detector as high as possible. In the past the most significant efforts were concentrated to develop passivation techniques for CZT detectors. However, as we found, the field-effect caused by a bias applied on the cathode can significantly reduce the surface resistivity even though the detector surface was carefully passivated. In this paper we illustrate that the field-effect is a common feature of the CZT multi-electrode detectors, and discuss how to take advantage of this effect to improve the surface resistivity of CZT detectors.

We have made Radio-Frequency Single-Electron Transistors (RF-SETs) with large input gates, and tested performance and modes of operation with the goal of using such devices as on-chip amplifiers for a variety of high impedance cryogenic photodetectors. We achieved /spl ap/100 kHz of closed-loop bandwidth for charge-locked-loop and transimpedance amplifier feedback configurations, and have combined amplifier outputs using a form of wavelength division multiplexing. With our choice of SET junction resistance, a 0.5 fF input gate capacitance gave a cotunneling-degraded charge noise of 1/spl times/10/sup -4/ e//spl radic/Hz, but a fairly low input voltage noise of 30 nV//spl radic/Hz.

Superconducting bilayers made of thin films of molybdenum and gold show promise as robust transition-edge sensor (TES) thermometers for calorimeters. We present our first X-ray results from experiments with Mo/Au TES calorimeters on silicon-nitride membranes. These results include analysis of the signal pulse shape and noise as functions of the bias point, which is varied through changing the bias voltage for operation at different places within the superconducting transition and changing the heat sink temperature relative to the transition temperature. Ultimately, we determined that the performance of our devices is limited by the slew rate of the SQUID amplifier used to measure the change in current, which restricts the choice of bias. The amplifier must be replaced before further device characterization and optimization can proceed.

Two 3-D position-sensitive room temperature semiconductor γ-ray spectrometers have been built using 1 cm 3 cubic CdZnTe crystals. The lateral coordinates of γ-ray interaction are obtained from the location of the 11( x )×11( y ) pixellated anodes and the depth ( z ) is obtained from the ratio of the signals coming from the cathode and the anode. Energy spectra from 662 keV incident γ-rays have been collected from each of the 11 (x)×11 (y)×20 (z) voxels in both of the CdZnTe devices. After corrections for electron trapping, the difference of weighting potentials in 3-D, and for the gain variation of the readout circuitry, energy resolutions of 1.70% (11.3 keV) FWHM and 1.84% (12.2 keV) FWHM were obtained at 662 keV γ-ray energy on the first and second detectors, respectively, from the whole bulk for single-pixel events. Possible improvements in the detector performance are discussed.

The authors report on the performance of a CdZnTe (CZT) array readout by an XA (X-ray imaging chip produced at the AMS foundry) application specific readout chip (ASIC). The array was designed and fabricated at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as a prototype for the Burst Arc-Second Imaging and Spectroscopy gamma-ray instrument. The XA ASIC was obtained from Integrated Detector and Electronics (IDE), in Norway. Performance characteristics and spectral data for /sup 241/Am are presented both at room temperature and at -20/spl deg/C. The measured noise (/spl sigma/) was 2.5 keV at 60 keV at room temperature. This paper represents a progress report on work with the XA ASIC and CZT detectors. Work is continuing and in particular, larger arrays are planned for future NASA missions.

With the goal of making high-sensitivity bolometers for low-background measurements in the far-infrared or submillimeter, we have made small silicon thermistors, which act as hot-electron bolometers, with integrated single-electron transistors for readout amplifiers. Semiconductors doped just below a metal–insulator transition can make highly sensitive thermistors that have been used as thermometers in X-ray microcalorimeters and FIR bolometer arrays. In such arrays, thermal isolation is engineered by supporting the absorber and thermometer on a membrane. However, electron–phonon decoupling in doped silicon can be made the dominant thermal isolation by reducing device volume, potentially allowing a smaller thermal conductance and a more sensitive bolometer. A key feature is that, while its DC resistance is very high, the thermistor's surface impedance at terahertz frequencies is conveniently low, making feasible efficient antenna coupling of radiation into the electron system. Radio-frequency single-electron transistors integrated with the thermistors have sufficiently low input capacitance to offer high-speed readout of the high impedance detectors.

The energy resolution of CdTe and CdZnTe detectors is usually limited by the poor transport properties of holes. Devices segmented into small pixels have been observed to exhibit improved energy resolutions. Simulations have shown that this small pixel effect is due to the fact that small pixels are mostly sensitive to carriers moving close to the pixel, within a distance of the order of the pixel size. In this paper, signals are calculated for CdZnTe strip detectors in order to determine to what extent a similar small electrode effect is produced by strips. The free carrier density distributions following the absorption of a /spl gamma/-ray are calculated by solving the continuity equations. Combined with the strip weighting field, this provides the signal induced in the strip. Simulations are made for various detector geometries and for both the anode and cathode strips. Simulated signals are compared with actual signals measured on CdZnTe detectors.

The Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) team identified five key technology areas to enable candidate architectures for a future large-aperture ultraviolet/optical/infrared (LUVOIR) space observatory envisioned by the NASA Astrophysics 30-year roadmap, "Enduring Quests, Daring Visions." The science goals of ATLAST address a broad range of astrophysical questions from early galaxy and star formation to the processes that contributed to the formation of life on Earth, combining general astrophysics with direct-imaging and spectroscopy of habitable exoplanets. The key technology areas are internal coronagraphs, starshades (or external occulters), ultra-stable large-aperture telescope systems, detectors, and mirror coatings. For each technology area, we define best estimates of required capabilities, current state-of-the-art performance, and current technology readiness level (TRL), thus identifying the current technology gap. We also report on current, planned, or recommended efforts to develop each technology to TRL 5.

We present results on wavelength division multiplexing of radio-frequency single-electron transistors. We use a network of resonant impedance matching circuits to direct applied rf carrier waves to different transistors depending on carrier frequency. A two-channel demonstration of this concept using discrete components successfully reconstructed input signals with small levels of crosscoupling. A lithographic version of the rf circuits had measured parameters in agreement with electromagnetic modeling, with reduced crosscapacitance and inductance, and should allow 20–50 channels to be multiplexed.

Rapid progress in the AlGaN (E g =3.4-6.2eV), 4H-SiC (E g =3.2eV) and ZnMgO (E g =2.8-7.9eV) material systems over the last five years has led to the demonstration of a number of opto-electronic devices. These wide energy band gap devices offer several key advantages for space applications, over conventional Si (E g =1.1eV) based devices, such as visible-blind detection, high thermal stability, better radiation hardness, high breakdown electric field, high chemical inertness and greater mechanical strength. Furthermore, the shorter cut-off wavelength of these material systems eliminates the need for bulky and expensive optical filtering components mitigating risk and allowing for simpler optical design of instrumentation. In this paper, we report on the development at NASA/Goddard of ultra-sensitive, high quantum efficiency AlGaN and 4H-SiC Schottky barrier UV-EUV photodiodes, 4H-SiC UV single photon avalanche diodes, large format 256x256 AlGaN UV p-i-n photodiode arrays and recent progress in elemental substitution for p-type and enhanced n-type doping of ZnO.

We report our in-depth study of Cd-Zn-Te (CZT) crystals to determine an optimum pixel and guard band configuration for Hard X-ray imaging and spectroscopy. We tested 20x20x5mm crystals with 8x8 pixels on a 2.46mm pitch. We have studied different types of cathode / anode contacts and different pixel pad sizes. We present the measurements of leakage current as well as spectral response for each pixel. Our I-V measurement setup is custom designed to allow automated measurements of the I-V curves sequentially for all 64 pixels, whereas the radiation properties measurement setup allows for interchangeable crystals with the same XAIM3.2 ASIC readout from IDEAS. We have tested multiple crystals of each type, and each crystal in different positions to measure the variation between individual crystals and variation among the ASIC channels. We also compare the same crystals with and without a grounded guard band deposited on the crystal side walls vs. a floating guard band and compare results to simulations. This study was carried out to find the optimum CZT crystal configuration for prototype detectors for the proposed Black-Hole Finder mission, EXIST., To appears in the SPIE 2004 proceedings (5540: Hard X-ray and gamma-ray detector physics V)

We discuss a new type of direct detector, a silicon hot-electron bolometer, for measurements in the far-infrared and submillimeter spectral ranges. High performance bolometers can be made using the electron-phonon conductance in heavily doped silicon to provide thermal isolation from the cryogenic bath. Noise performance is expected to be near thermodynamic limits, allowing background limited performance for many far infrared and submillimeter photometric and spectroscopic applications.

We report detector characteristics and background measurements from two prototype imaging CZT detectors flown on a scientific balloon payload in May 2001. The detectors are both platinum-contact 10mm x 10mm x 5mm CZT crystals, each with a 4 $\times$ 4 array of pixels tiling the anode. One is made from IMARAD horizontal Bridgman CZT, the other from eV Products high-pressure Bridgman material. Both detectors were mounted side-by-side in a flip-chip configuration and read out by a 32-channel IDE VA/TA ASIC preamp/shaper. We enclosed the detectors in the same 40deg field-of-view collimator (comprisinga graded passive shield and plastic scintillator) used in our previously-reported September 2000 flight. I-V curves for the detectors are diode-like, and we find that the platinum contacts adhere significantly better to the CZT surfaces than gold to previous detectors. The detectors and instrumentation performed well in a 20-hour balloon flight on 23/24 May 2001. Although we discovered a significant instrumental background component in flight, it was possible to measure and subtract this component from the spectra. The resulting IMARAD detector background spectrum (from 30 keV to ~450 keV) reaches ~5 x 10^{-3}$ counts/cm^2 -sec-keV at 100 keV and has a power-law index of ~2 at high energies. The eV Products detector has a similar spectrum, although there is more uncertainty in the energy scale because of calibration complications.

We are developing superconducting direct detectors for submillimeter astronomy that can in principle detectindividual photons. These devices, Single Quasiparticle Photon Counter (SQPC), operate by measuring thequasiparticles generated when single Cooper-pairs are broken by absorption of a submillimeter photon. Thisphotoconductive type of device could yield high quantum efficiency, large responsivity, microsecond responsetimes, and sensitivities in the range of 10 -20 Watts per root Hertz. The use of antenna coupling to a smallabsorber also suggests the potential for novel instrument designs and scalability to imaging or spectroscopicarrays. We will describe the device concept, r ecent results on fabrication and electrical characterization of thesedetectors, issues related to saturation and optimization of the device parameters. Finally, we have developedpractical readout amplifiers for these high-impedance cryogenic detectors based on the Radio-FrequencySingle-Electron Transistor (RF-SET). We will describe results of a demonstration of a transimpedanceamplifier based on closed-loop operation of an RF-SET, and a demonstration of a wavelength-divisionmultiplexing scheme for the RF-SET. These developments will be a key ingredient in scaling to large arrays ofhigh-sensitivity detectors.Keywords: submillimeter, superconducting detector

We are developing novel photodetector arrays based on superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) and pop-up detector(PUD) technologies. The TES has the potential for a new generation of high sensitivity photodetectors from the infrared tothe x-ray. This is directly due to the sharpness of the resistance change with temperature at the superconducting transition.The TESs are deposited on the PUD arrays and serve as the sensing elements. The PUDs are close-packed, folded membranearrays that provide the TES substrate and the thermal isolation required by the bolometers and microcalorimeters. This paperpresents the processing-related characterization results of preliminary TES and PUD designs. The goal of this work is tofabricate a new generation of x-ray calorimeters and infrared bolometers for space flight projects.Al-Ag and Mo-Au TES bilayers were fabricated by electron-beam deposition in an ultra-high vacuum system. To achieve thedesired transition temperatures and stability, materials-related properties such as adhesion, surface morphology, film stress,and electrochemical reaction ofthe bilayers were studied. Mo-Au bilayers showed better chemical and electrical stability thanAl-Ag bilayers. The PUD arrays were fabricated with a 0.2mm pitch on silicon wafers. MEMS techniques were used in thefabrication of PUD arrays. Mechanical folding tests were conducted to inspect the mechanical stress distribution for the arraystructures. The test results showed yields for fourteen designs. Mechanical modeling was conducted using non-linear staticand dynamic simulations. The simulations agreed with the trends of mechanical folding tests. Scanning electron microscopywas utilized to examine the flatness of detectors and the alignment of detectors in arrays.Key Words: Superconducting transition edge sensor, Pop-up detector, Mo-Au bilayer, Al-Ag bilayer, bolometer,microcalorimeter, Anisotropic etching, FEM simulation.

Cadmium zinc telluride (CsZnTe) has been applied as a X-ray and gamma-ray radiation detector due to its large bandgap and high atomic number which gives low leakage current and good absorption efficiency. In addition, the CdZnTe detectors can be operated at room temperature with very good energy resolution and excellent spatial resolution. The main challenges in fabricating a large area CdZnTe strip detector array are the requirements of low leakage current in the individual strips of each detector and the good adhesion of the pad metal to the CdZnTe surface for wire bonding. The Detector Systems Branch at Goddard Space Flight CEnter has successfully fabricated the double sized CdZnTe strip detectors for a 6 X 6 array. The strip detector array has 36 double sided detectors with each detector having 127 strips and a guard ring on each side with a spatial resolution < 100 micrometers . The total area of the array is 60 cm2 with 762 X 762 strips to give 580,000 pixels - a factor of 100 better than other CdZnTe or scintillator arrays. In this paper, we will present our novel processing for fabricating such high performance strip detectors. The leakage current, interstrip resistance and energy resolution were studied as a function of different etchants/time and post-annealing temperature. The effects of chemical etching and post annealing on the CdZnTe surface and interface property were also discussed.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

A CdZnTe strip detector array with capabilities for arc second imaging and spectroscopy has been built as a prototypefor a space flight gamma ray burst instrument. Two dimensional orthogonal strip detectors with 100 im pitch have beenfabricated and tested for a large area array ( 60 cm2 with 36 detectors). Details for the fabrication and evaluation of thedetectors will be presented. Critical issues to be addressed include fabricating metal contacts with low leakage current andwith excellent wire bonding yield, achieving high yield for good strips, and surface cleaning and passivation.Keywords: CdZnTe, strip detector, gamma ray, hard x-ray, imaging, spectroscopy, wire bonding, fabrication, testing, array

One of the critical issues in CdZnTe detector fabrication is the surface treatment. This will not only affect the electrical properties, such as leakage current, but also influence the physical properties, such as smoothness and adhesion between the metal and the semiconductor. The latter will determine the wire bonding yield. Historically, there has been a problem in achieving both low leakage current and excellent wire bonding yield. In this paper, we report our new approach to fabricate high performance doubled sided CdZnTe strip detectors. The new surface treatments involve chemical etching and post-annealing. The leakage current, interstrip resistance and energy resolution were studied as a function of different etchants/time and post-annealing temperature. It was found that a chemical etch with bromine in ethylene glycol (Br/EG) is suitable for the double sided strip detector process. Keeping a relatively smooth surface is critical for achieving a high yield of good strips. To improve the adhesion of the metal to CdZnTe for wire bonding, the detectors were annealed from 100 to 175°C for 10 hours. It has been observed that after annealing, not only has the strip leakage current decreased, but the interstrip resistance is increased for a temperature less than 150°C.

Because of its high atomic number and convenient room temperature operation, CdZnTe has great potential for use in both balloon and space borne hard x-ray (5 - 200 keV) astrophysics experiments. Here we present preliminary results from the first CdZnTe background measurements made by a balloon instrument. Measurements of the CdZnTe internal background are essential to determine which physical processes make the most important background contributions and are critical in the design of future scientific instruments. The PoRTIA CdZnTe balloon instrument was flown three times in three different shielding configurations. PoRTIA was passively shielded during its first flight from Palestine, Texas and actively shielded as a piggyback instrument on the GRIS balloon experiment during flights 2 and 3 from Alice Springs, Australia. PoRTIA flew twice during the Fall 1995 Alice Springs, Australia campaign using the thick GRIS NaI anticoincidence shield. A significant CdZnTe background reduction was achieved during the third flight with PoRTIA placed completely inside the GRIS shield and blocking crystal, and thus completely surrounded by 15 cm of NaI. These background results are presented and contributions from different background processes are discussed.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. JWST will be an infrared-optimized telescope, with an approximately 6.5 m diameter primary mirror, that is located at the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point. Three of JWST’s four science instruments use Teledyne HgCdTe HAWAII-2RG (H2RG) near infrared detector arrays. During 2010, the JWST Project noticed that a few of its 5 μm cutoff H2RG detectors were degrading during room temperature storage, and NASA chartered a “Detector Degradation Failure Review Board” (DD-FRB) to investigate. The DD-FRB determined that the root cause was a design flaw that allowed indium to interdiffuse with the gold contacts and migrate into the HgCdTe detector layer. Fortunately, Teledyne already had an improved design that eliminated this degradation mechanism. During early 2012, the improved H2RG design was qualified for flight and JWST began making additional H2RGs. In this article, we present the two public DD-FRB “Executive Summaries” that: (1) determined the root cause of the detector degradation and (2) defined tests to determine whether the existing detectors are qualified for flight. We supplement these with a brief introduction to H2RG detector arrays, some recent measurements showing that the performance of the improved design meets JWST requirements, and a discussion of how the JWST Project is using cryogenic storage to retard the degradation rate of the existing flight spare H2RGs.