Optimization of Transition Edge Sensor Arrays for Cosmic Microwave Background Observations With the South Pole Telescope

• Main Authors: Ding, Junjia, Ade, PAR, Anderson, AJ, Avva, J, Ahmed, Z, Arnold, K, Austermann, JE, Bender, AN, Benson, BA, Bleem, LE, Byrum, K, Carlstrom, JE, Carter, FW, Chang, CL, Cho, HM, Cliche, JF, Cukierman, A, Czaplewski, D, Divan, R, de Haan, T, Dobbs, MA, Dutcher, D, Everett, W, Gilbert, A, Gannon, R, Guyser, R, Halverson, NW, Harrington, NL, Hattori, K, Henning, JW, Hilton, GC, Holzapfel, WL, Hubmayr, J, Huang, N, Irwin, KD, Jeong, O, Khaire, T, Kubik, D, Kuo, CL, Lee, AT, Leitch, EM, Meyer, SS, Miller, CS, Montgomery, J, Nadolski, A, Natoli, T, Nguyen, H, Novosad, V, Padin, S, Pan, Z, Pearson, J, Posada, CM, Rahlin, A, Reichardt, CL, Ruhl, JE, Saliwanchik, BR, Sayre, JT, Shariff, JA, Shirley, I, Shirokoff, E, Smecher, G, Sobrin, J, Stan, L, Stark, AA, Story, K, Suzuki, A, Tang, QY, Thakur, RB, Thompson, KL, Tucker, C, Vanderlinde, K, Vieira, JD, Wang, G, Whitehorn, N, Wu, WLK, Yefremenko, V, Yoon, KW
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2017
• Subjects: Particle and High Energy Physics; Physical Sciences; Transition edge sensors; superconducting detectors; bolometers; cosmic microwave background; South Pole telescope; Condensed Matter Physics; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Materials Engineering; General Physics; Electrical engineering; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3jd724df

In this paper, we describe the optimization of transition-edge-sensor (TES) detector arrays for the third-generation camera for the South Pole Telescope. The camera, which contains ~ 16 000 detectors, will make high-angular-resolution maps of the temperature and polarization of the cosmic microwave background. Our key results are scatter in the transition temperature of Ti/Au TESs is reduced by fabricating the TESs on a thin Ti(5 nm)/Au(5 nm) buffer layer and the thermal conductivity of the legs that support our detector islands is dominated by the SiOx dielectric in the microstrip transmission lines that run along the legs.