Optimization of transition edge sensor arrays for cosmic microwave background observations with the South Pole Telescope

• Published in: IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
• Main Authors: Ding, Junjia, Ade, Peter A. R., Anderson, A. J., Avva, J., Ahmed, Z., Arnold, K., Austermann, J. E., Bender, A. N., Benson, B. A., Bleem, L. E., Byrum, K., Carlstrom, J. E., Carter, F. W., Chang, C. L., Cho, H. M., Cliche, J. F., Cukierman, A., Czaplewski, D., Divan, R., de Haan, T., Dobbs, M. A., Dutcher, D., Everett, W., Gilbert, A., Gannon, R., Guyser, R., Halverson, N. W., Harrington, N. L., Hattori, K., Henning, J. W., Hilton, G. C., Holzapfel, W. L., Hubmayr, J., Huang, N., Irwin, K. D., Jeong, O., Khaire, T., Kubik, D., Kuo, C. L., Lee, A. T., Leitch, E. M., Meyer, S. S., Miller, C. S., Montgomery, J., Nadolski, A., Natoli, T., Nguyen, H., Novosad, V., Padin, S., Pan, Z., Pearson, J., Posada, C. M., Rahlin, A., Reichardt, C. L., Ruhl, J. E., Saliwanchik, B. R., Sayre, J. T., Shariff, J. A., Shirley, I., Shirokoff, E., Smecher, G., Sobrin, J., Stan, L., Stark, A. A., Story, K., Suzuki, A., Tang, Q. Y., Thakur, R. B., Thompson, K. L., Tucker, Carole, Vanderlinde, K., Vieira, J. D., Wang, G., Whitehorn, N., Wu, W. L. K., Yefremenko, V., Yoon, K. W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2017
• Subjects: QB Astronomy; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/102146/; https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2016.2639378; https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/102146/1/Optimization%20of%20Transition%20Edge%20Sensor%20Arrays%20for%20Cosmic%20Microwave%20Background%20Observations%20with%20the%20South%20Pole%20Telescope.pdf

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.