10 MeV Proton Radiation Effect on 8-Transistor CMOS Star Sensor Performance

The effects of total ionizing dose(TID)and displacement damage from proton irradiation on an 8-transistor global shutter exposure CMOS image sensor(CIS)within a star sensors were presented to analyze the sources of star sensor performance degradation and the decrease of attitude measurement accuracy.The dark current,dark signal non-uniformity,and photon response non-uniformity versus the displacement damage dose(DDD)were investigated.The star diagonal distance accuracy,and star point centroid positioning accuracy of the star sensor versus the DDD were also analyzed.The influence of space radiation on star sensor performance parameter was analyzed innovatively from a system level point of view.This work lays the foundation for the research of star sensor attitude error measurement and correction technology,and also provides some theoretical basis for the design of high-precision star sensor.

Conclusion

10 MeV proton radiation effects on an 8T CIS induced by proton radiation were investigated. The parameters of the CIS, such as dark current, DSNU, and PRNU, were measured after irradiation. The internal interface states and trapped positive charges of pixels increase due to irradiation, which lead to the increase of dark current, DSNU, and PRNU.
As the proton cumulative fluence and DDD increases, the star diagonal distance accuracy and star point centroid positioning accuracy decreased. The increase of DSNU results in the change of gray distribution of the star point, which leads to the shift of the star point centroid position. As star diagonal distance error is a form of star point centroid positioning error, it is also caused by the increase of DSNU.
The results provided in this study lay a foundation for the research of star sensor attitude error measurement and correction technology. We have also provided a theoretical basis for the design of a high-precision star sensor. In practical applications, due to the invalid data of star sensor in the SAA region, it is necessary to study further the influence of proton radiation on the performance parameters of a star sensor.