Passivation of Si(Li) detectors operated above cryogenic temperatures for space-based applications

Abstract

This work evaluates the viability of polyimide and parylene-C for passivation of lithium-drifted silicon (Si(Li)) detectors. The passivated Si(Li) detectors will form the particle tracker and X-ray detector of the General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) experiment, a balloon-borne experiment optimized to detect cosmic antideuterons produced in dark matter annihilations or decays. Successful passivation coatings were achieved by thermally curing polyimides, and the optimized coatings form an excellent barrier against humidity and organic contamination. The passivated Si(Li) detectors deliver $\lesssim 4$ keV energy resolution (FWHM) for 20$-$100 keV X-rays while operating at temperatures of $-$35 to $-45{}^{\circ }$C. This is the first reported successful passivation of Si(Li)-based X-ray detectors operated above cryogenic temperatures.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication at Nuclear Instrumentation and Methods A, 19 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (10)

• Antideuterons as a Signature of Supersymmetric Dark Matter
• Flux of light antimatter nuclei near earth, induced by Cosmic Rays in the Galaxy and in the atmosphere
• A novel antimatter detector based on X-ray deexcitation of exotic atoms
• Review of the theoretical and experimental status of dark matter identification with cosmic-ray antideuterons
• Potential for Precision Measurement of Low-Energy Antiprotons with GAPS for Dark Matter and Primordial Black Hole Physics
• Fabrication of low-cost, large-area prototype Si(Li) detectors for the GAPS experiment
• Developing a mass-production model of large-area Si(Li) detectors with high operating temperatures
• The flight of the GAPS prototype experiment
• Large-area Si(Li) detectors for X-ray spectrometry and particle tracking in the GAPS experiment
• A Measurement of Atomic X-ray Yields in Exotic Atoms and Implications for an Antideuteron-Based Dark Matter Search

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Cosmic antihelium-3 nuclei sensitivity of the GAPS experiment
• Sensitivity of the GAPS Experiment to Low-energy Cosmic-ray Antiprotons
• The antinucleus annihilation reconstruction algorithm of the GAPS experiment
• Statistical investigation of the large-area Si(Li) detectors mass-produced for the GAPS experiment
• Large-scale detector testing for the GAPS Si(Li) Tracker