Design and Construction of the Silicon Charge Detector for the CREAM Mission

• Main Authors: I H Park, J H Hahn, W Han, H J Hyun, S Y Hyun, H J Kim, M Kim, Y J Kim, J K Lee, M H Lee, K W Min, W Nam, H Park, N H Park, E S Seo, K I Seon, J H Sone, J Yang
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1060.9360; http://www-rccn.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/icrc2003/PROCEEDINGS/PDF/520.pdf

Abstract A Silicon Charge Detector (SCD) is designed and constructed for the Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) experiment to provide precision measurements of charge of incident cosmic ray particles with resolution of 0.2 charge unit. The aim of the CREAM experiment is to understand the source and acceleration mechanisms of ultra high energy cosmic ray particles. The payload is planned for launch in December 2004 from McMurdo Antarctica as an Ultra Long Duration Balloon mission. The SCD consists of 26 ladders each holding 7 silicon sensor modules and associated analog readout electronics. The silicon sensors are DC coupled PIN diode made from 380 µm thick, n-type wafers. Each sensor is pixellated with 16 cells, 2.12 cm 2 in area, to distinguish the incident particle charge in the presence of backscattered particles resulting from interactions in the lower parts of the instrument (Carbon target and Calorimeter). We present the status of the SCD, including readout electronics and mechanical support structure.