EUV and Soft X-Ray Quantum Efficiency Measurements of a Thinned Back-Illuminated CMOS Active Pixel Sensor

We report the first absolute effective quantum efficiency (e-h pairs collected/predicted) measurements of a monolithic thinned back-illuminated CMOS active pixel sensor (APS) in the extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray region (13-600 Å). The sensor was designed and fabricated under a joint Rutherford Appleton Laboratory/e2v research program and characterized in the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics calibration facility. We compare our QE results to the data and models developed for thinned CCDs with similar back surface passivation. Our results demonstrate that CMOS APS arrays show significant promise for use in space-based solar physics and astrophysics missions.