Thin Silicon Detector Technology for Use in Imaging Solar ENAs Project

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	&lt;strong&gt;Top Level Objective: &lt;/strong&gt;To enable capabilities for imaging and spectral measurements of energetic neutral hydrogen atoms (ENAs) produced with energies &lt;em&gt;&amp;sim;&lt;/em&gt;1MeV/nuc in explosive solar events.&lt;/p&gt;
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	&lt;strong&gt;Overarching Science Question: &lt;/strong&gt;How and why does the Sun vary and affect the Earth and the rest of the solar system? [NASA 2010 Science Plan]&lt;/p&gt;
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	&lt;strong&gt;Primary Scientific Application: &lt;/strong&gt;Investigation of energetic particle acceleration by shocks and/or magnetic reconnection in the solar corona. &lt;strong&gt;Technology: &lt;/strong&gt;Ultra-thin (&lt;em&gt;&amp;lt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;sim; &lt;/em&gt;10 &lt;em&gt;&amp;mu;&lt;/em&gt;m) silicon strip detectors with spatial resolution an order of magnitude better than previously achieved. &lt;strong&gt;Approach: &lt;/strong&gt;Detectors fabricated on thin membranes supported by a thick frame made using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) techniques starting from commercially-available silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. &lt;strong&gt;Technical Advantages: &lt;/strong&gt;Ease of manufacture, mechanical robustness, excellent membrane uniformity, flexible approach that can be customized for numerous applications.&lt;/p&gt;
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	&lt;strong&gt;Most Immediate Application: &lt;/strong&gt;ENA imaging in SEP events using a combination of coded aperture imaging and &lt;em&gt;dE/dx &lt;/em&gt;versus total energy particle identification with energy threshold below 1MeV.&lt;/p&gt;
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	&lt;strong&gt;Benefits for Heliophysics: &lt;/strong&gt;ENA imaging capability provides a fundamentally new probe of acceleration processes occurring in the corona.&lt;/p&gt;
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	&lt;strong&gt;Status of Development: &lt;/strong&gt;Simpler position-sensitive thin &lt;em&gt;dE/dx &lt;/em&gt;detectors produced from SOI wafers has been demonstrated and are planned for use on the Solar Probe Plus mission.&lt;/p&gt;
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	&lt;strong&gt;Proposed New Effort: &lt;/strong&gt;1) Produce and test thin detectors with position resolution &lt;em&gt;&amp;sim;&lt;/em&gt;0.1&amp;ndash;0.2mm. 2) Produce thin dead layers suitable for detectors with overall thickness &lt;em&gt;&amp;lt;&lt;/em&gt;10 &lt;em&gt;&amp;mu;&lt;/em&gt;m. 3) Determine how thin &lt;em&gt;dE/dx &lt;/em&gt;detectors can be made using the SOI technique. 4) Demonstrate how large a detector active area can be achieved using SOI. 5) Simulate application of this type of detector in a solar ENA imager.&lt;/p&gt;
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	&lt;strong&gt;Technological Goal: &lt;/strong&gt;Take the thin-silicon strip detector technology from TRL2 (technology concept and/or application formulated) to TRL3-4 (analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof-of-concept [TRL3]; component and/or breadboard validation in laboratory environment [TRL4]) to enable future prototyping of an optimized solar ENA imager. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
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	N/A&lt;/p&gt;

Tags: active, nasa-headquarters, project
Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration