Update on X-ray Microcalorimeter Arrays Based on Thermal MKIDs (TKIDs)

Abstract

We report progress on the development of x-ray microcalorimeter thermal kinetic inductance detector (TKID) arrays, where each TKID is an independent pixel. Our goal in developing this detector technology is to arrive at high quantum efficiency, high fill factor, large-format, moderate energy resolution x-ray detector array which can be readily scaled to tens of kilo-pixels, to be used as an x-ray imaging spectrograph for astronomy and metrology applications. We discuss the evolution of the design, how it has been driven by fabrication related constraints, and the resulting impacts on detector performance.