Characterization and acceptance testing of fully depleted thick CCDs for the large synoptic survey telescope

• DOI: 10.1117/12.2231925
• Publication Date: 2016-07-27T15:50:04Z
• Authors: H. A. Neal; Thomas C. Smith; Péter Takács; Justine Haupt; Jim Chiang; Paul O'Connor; Ivan Kotov; Ivan V. Kotov; P. O’Connor; Thomas D. Smith; Peter Z. Takacs; Homer Neal; J. Chiang
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; Large format; Acceptance testing; Characterization; First light; Charge-coupled device

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) camera will be made as a mosaic assembled of 189 large format Charge Coupled Devices (CCD). They are n-channel, 100 micron thick devices operated in the over depleted regime. There are 16 segments, 1 million pixels each, that are read out through separate amplifiers. The image quality and readout speed expected from LSST camera translates into strict acceptance requirements for individual sensors. Prototype sensors and preproduction CCDs were delivered by vendors and they have been used for developing test procedures and protocols. Building upon this experience, two test stands were designed and commissioned at Brookhaven National Laboratory for production electro-optical testing. In this article, the sensor acceptance criteria are outlined and discussed, the test stand design and used equipment are presented and the results from commissioning sensor runs are shown.