Automated analysis of the visual properties of superconducting detectors

Ferguson, K.R., Bender, A.N., Whitehorn, N., Barry, P.S., Cecil, T.W., Dibert, K.R. and Martsen, E.S. 2025. Automated analysis of the visual properties of superconducting detectors. Journal of Instrumentation 20 (6) , P06011. 10.1088/1748-0221/20/06/p06011

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Abstract

The testing and quality assurance of cryogenic superconducting detectors is a time- and labor-intensive process. As experiments deploy increasingly larger arrays of detectors, new methods are needed for performing this testing quickly. Here, we propose a process for flagging under-performing detector wafers before they are ever tested cryogenically. Detectors are imaged under an optical microscope, and computer vision techniques are used to analyze the images, searching for visual defects and other predictors of poor performance. Pipeline performance is verified via a suite of images with simulated defects, yielding a detection accuracy of 98.6%. Lastly, results from running the pipeline on prototype microwave kinetic inductance detectors from the planned SPT-3G+ experiment are presented.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: cc-by
Publisher:	IOP Publishing
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 June 2025
Date of Acceptance:	12 May 2025
Last Modified:	10 Jun 2025 08:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/178944

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