Low temperature testing and neutron irradiation of a swept charge device on board the HXMT satellite

We present the low temperature testing of an SCD detector, investigating its performance such as readout noise, energy resolution at 5.9 keV and dark current. The SCD’s performance is closely related to temperature, and the temperature range of 80℃ to 50℃ is the best choice, where the FWHM at 5.9 keV is about 130 eV. The influence of the neutron irradiation from an electrostatic accelerator with fluence up to 1 × 109 cm-2 has been examined. We find the SCD is not vulnerable to neutron irradiation. The detailed operations of the SCD and the test results of low temperature are reported, and the results of neutron irradiation are discussed.