RANDOM TELEGRAPH SIGNALS FROM PROTON-IRRADIATED CCDS

Temporal fluctuations have recently been discovered in the dark current of proton-displacement-damaged CCDs. These fluctuations take the form of random telegraph signals with well defined amplitudes and time constants (for the high and low dark current states). Temperature and annealing behaviour have been studied, as has the dependence on proton fluence. A bistable defect mechanism is proposed.