Thin Silicon Detector Technology for Use in Imaging Solar ENAs Project

<p> <strong>Top Level Objective: </strong>To enable capabilities for imaging and spectral measurements of energetic neutral hydrogen atoms (ENAs) produced with energies <em>&sim;</em>1MeV/nuc in explosive solar events.</p> <p> <strong>Overarching Science Question: </strong>How and why does the Sun vary and affect the Earth and the rest of the solar system? [NASA 2010 Science Plan]</p> <p> <strong>Primary Scientific Application: </strong>Investigation of energetic particle acceleration by shocks and/or magnetic reconnection in the solar corona. <strong>Technology: </strong>Ultra-thin (<em>&lt;</em><em>&sim; </em>10 <em>&mu;</em>m) silicon strip detectors with spatial resolution an order of magnitude better than previously achieved. <strong>Approach: </strong>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. <strong>Technical Advantages: </strong>Ease of manufacture, mechanical robustness, excellent membrane uniformity, flexible approach that can be customized for numerous applications.</p> <p> <strong>Most Immediate Application: </strong>ENA imaging in SEP events using a combination of coded aperture imaging and <em>dE/dx </em>versus total energy particle identification with energy threshold below 1MeV.</p> <p> <strong>Benefits for Heliophysics: </strong>ENA imaging capability provides a fundamentally new probe of acceleration processes occurring in the corona.</p> <p> <strong>Status of Development: </strong>Simpler position-sensitive thin <em>dE/dx </em>detectors produced from SOI wafers has been demonstrated and are planned for use on the Solar Probe Plus mission.</p> <p> <strong>Proposed New Effort: </strong>1) Produce and test thin detectors with position resolution <em>&sim;</em>0.1&ndash;0.2mm. 2) Produce thin dead layers suitable for detectors with overall thickness <em>&lt;</em>10 <em>&mu;</em>m. 3) Determine how thin <em>dE/dx </em>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.</p> <p> <strong>Technological Goal: </strong>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. &nbsp;</p> <p> N/A</p>

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_@context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
identifier TECHPORT_10850
issued 2011-09-01
landingPage http://techport.nasa.gov/view/10850
modified 2025-03-31
programCode {026:000}
publisher Science Mission Directorate
references {http://techport.nasa.gov/home,http://techport.nasa.gov/doc/home/TechPort_Advanced_Search.pdf,http://techport.nasa.gov/fetchFile?objectId=6561,http://techport.nasa.gov/fetchFile?objectId=3456,http://techport.nasa.gov/fetchFile?objectId=3447,http://techport.nasa.gov/fetchFile?objectId=6584,http://techport.nasa.gov/fetchFile?objectId=6560,http://techport.nasa.gov/fetchFile?objectId=3448}
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash a14cb0b84d1538abfd065a1e7eb2d5cc8719d272c8774a7bb1c41a091f36b1e0
source_schema_version 1.1
temporal 2011-09-01T00:00:00Z/2014-09-01T00:00:00Z
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • AmeriGEO
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • CKAN
  • GEO
  • GEOSS
  • National
  • North America
  • United States
  • active
  • nasa-headquarters
  • project
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer Mark Wiedenbeck
maintainer_email mark.e.wiedenbeck@jpl.nasa.gov
metadata_created 2025-09-24T00:36:32.482509
metadata_modified 2025-09-24T00:36:32.482516
notes &lt;p&gt; &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; &lt;p&gt; &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; &lt;p&gt; &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; &lt;p&gt; &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; &lt;p&gt; &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; &lt;p&gt; &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; &lt;p&gt; &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; &lt;p&gt; &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; &lt;p&gt; N/A&lt;/p&gt;
num_resources 1
num_tags 11
title Thin Silicon Detector Technology for Use in Imaging Solar ENAs Project