title: Pixel pitch and particle energy influence on the dark current distribution of neutron irradiated CMOS image sensors.
abstract: The dark current produced by neutron irradiation in CMOS Image Sensors (CIS) is investigated. Several CIS with different photodiode types and pixel pitches are irradiated with various neutron energies and fluences to study the influence of each of these optical detector and irradiation parameters on the dark current distribution. An empirical model is tested on the experimental data and validated on all the irradiated optical imagers. This model is able to describe all the presented dark current distributions with no parameter variation for neutron energies of 14 MeV or higher, regardless of the optical detector and irradiation characteristics. For energies below 1 MeV, it is shown that a single parameter has to be adjusted because of the lower mean damage energy per nuclear interaction. This model and these conclusions can be transposed to any silicon based solid-state optical imagers such as CIS or Charged Coupled Devices (CCD). This work can also be used when designing an optical imager instrument, to anticipate the dark current increase or to choose a mitigation technique.
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Belloir
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Goiffon
authors.forename: Cédric
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Virmontois
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raine
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paillet
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Duhamel
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gaillardin
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Magnan
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gilard