Reduced charge diffusion in thick, fully depleted CCDs with enhanced red sensitivity

Lateral charge diffusion in charge-coupled devices (CCDs) dominates the device point-spread function (PSF), which can affect both image quality and spectroscopic resolution. We present new data and theoretical interpretations for lateral charge diffusion in thick, fully depleted CCDs developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Because they can be overdepleted, the LBNL devices have no field-free region and diffusion is controlled through the application of an external bias voltage. Recent improvements in CCD design at LBNL allow the application of bias voltages exceeding 200 V. We give results for a 3512 × 3512 format, 10.5 μm pixel back-illuminated p-channel CCD developed for the SuperNova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP), a proposed satellite-based experiment designed to study dark energy. Lateral charge diffusion, which is well described by a symmetric two-dimensional (2-D) Gaussian function, was measured at substrate bias voltages between 3 and 115 V. At a bias voltage of 115 V. we measure a root-mean square (rms) diffusion of 3.7 ±0.2μm. Lateral charge diffusion in LBNL CCDs will meet the SNAP requirements.