Degradation of a COTS linear CCD induced by proton irradiation

A Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) linear CCD irradiated by protons is examined experimentally in this study. A dummy output voltage, the charge transfer efficiency (CTE) and a dark signal were degraded by 2-, 5-, and 10-MeV proton irradiation for comparison. The CCDs irradiated by 2-MeV protons were damaged most seriously, and the CCDs irradiated by 5-MeV protons were damaged more than those irradiated by 10-MeV protons. Biased CCDs were damaged more seriously than unbiased CCDs with the same proton irradiation conditions. The vacancy density and distribution induced by proton displacement damage and the ionizing energy loss induced by proton ionization damage were calculated using TRIM software. The correlation between CTE degradation and nonionizing energy loss is analyzed.