Dual-sided Charge-Coupled Devices

TL;DR

The paper introduces a novel Dual-Sided CCD that detects both electrons and holes simultaneously, significantly improving dark-count rejection and timing, with promising applications in astrophysics and spectroscopy.

Contribution

It presents a new dual-buried channel architecture enabling simultaneous charge carrier detection on both sides of the CCD, a novel approach in the field.

Findings

Enhanced dark-count rejection

Improved timing capabilities

Potential applications in astrophysics and spectroscopy

Abstract

Existing Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) operate by detecting either the electrons or holes created in an ionization event. We propose a new type of imager, the Dual-Sided CCD, which collects and measures both charge carriers on opposite sides of the device via a novel dual-buried channel architecture. We show that this dual detection strategy provides exceptional dark-count rejection and enhanced timing capabilities. These advancements have wide-ranging implications for dark-matter searches, near-IR/optical spectroscopy, and time-domain X-ray astrophysics.