Charge carrier generation in RNDR-DEPFET detectors

Abstract Depleted p-channel field-effect transistor detectors with repetitive non-destructive readout (RNDR-DEPFETs) achieve deep sub-electron noise by averaging several independent measurements of a single event. During repetitive readout, collected electrons are transferred between two readout nodes within each pixel to enable electron number-resolved measurements. The pixels serve as the unit cells of an active pixel sensor, enabling a high level of parallelization and fast readout. These properties are exploited in the DANAE experiment, which aims at the direct detection of light dark matter using the signature of electron recoils. We present the experimental characterization of a 64×64 RNDR-DEPFET pixel detector, with a focus on the charge-carrier generation rate. This technology provides high time resolution, which improves sensitivity to rare events involving signals of two or more electrons. This follows from the Poisson statistics of thermally generated electrons.