Quick Testing of Skipper-CCD Packages

Abstract

Using KiCad, the PCB was updated to contain 4 layers where two additional layers constitute the power and ground planes. Additionally, coupling capacitors were added to each Multiplexer. The planes and coupling capacitors will help reduce EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) emissions and improve the quality of the signal on the traces. Moreover, in most designs, each active component on the board is connected to both power and ground and therefore connecting them to the planes is much simpler than routing the power and ground trees with traces. CCDs (Charged-Coupled Devices) are arrays of coupled capacitors that can move charge from one pixel to another neighboring pixel. The charge can then be collected via a sense node. The Skipper-CCD is a special type of CCD that allows multiple charge measurements without corrupting the charge packet. By averaging these consecutive measurements, it can reach sub-electron noise levels (See Fig 2).