Characterizing Thermal Background Events for Athena X-IFU

• Published in: IEEE transactions on applied superconductivity Vol. 33; no. 5; pp. 1 - 6
• Main Authors: Hull, S. V., Adams, J. S., Bandler, S. R., Beaumont, S., Chervenak, J. A., Cumbee, R., Finkbeiner, F. M., Ha, J. Y., Kelley, R. L., Kilbourne, C. A., Porter, F. S., Sakai, K., Smith, S. J., Wakeham, N. A., Wassell, E. J., Yoon, S. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.08.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Alpha particles; Alpha rays; Astrophysics; Athena space telescope; Cosmic rays; cosmic-ray background; detector heatsinking; Detectors; Energy; Energy resolution; Gold; Metallizing; NASA; Particle energy; Physics; Pixels; Prototypes; Semiconductor device modeling; Sensors; Silicon; Thermal analysis; thermal background; Thermal baths; transition-edge sensor

The X-ray Integral Field Unit on Athena will be subject to a cosmic-ray induced thermal background on orbit, with energy depositions into the detector wafer leading to thermal bath fluctuations. Such fluctuations have the potential to degrade energy resolution performance of the transition-edge sens...