Low temperature testing and neutron irradiation of a swept charge device on board the HXMT satellite

We present the low temperature testing of an SCD detector, investigating its performance such as readout noise, energy resolution at 5.9 keV and dark current. The SCD's performance is closely related to temperature, and the temperature range of -80 ℃ to -50 ℃ is the best choice, where the FWHM at 5.9 keV is about 130 eV. The influence of the neutron irradiation from an electrostatic accelerator with fluence up to 1×10⁹ cm^-2 has been examined. We find the SCD is not vulnerable to neutron irradiation. The detailed operations of the SCD and the test results of low temperature are reported, and the results of neutron irradiation are discussed.     

Proton irradiation effect on SCDs

The Low Energy X-ray Telescope is one of the main payloads on the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope satellite.Swept charge devices(SCDs)are selected as detectors for the Low Energy X-ray Telescope.As SCDs are sensitive to proton irradiation,irradiation tests were carried out on the HI-13 accelerator at the China Institute of Atomic Energy.The beam energy was measured to be 10 MeV at the SCD.The proton fluence delivered to the SCD was 3×108protons/cm2over two hours.By comparing the performance before and after irradiation,it is concluded that proton irradiation affects both the dark current and the charge transfer inefficiency of the SCD.The energy resolution of the proton-irradiated SCD is 212 eV@5.9 keV at-60?C,while it before irradiated is 134 eV.Moreover,better performance can be reached by lowering the operating temperature of the SCD in orbit.