Cooling the Detector Cooling an array detector with a built-in thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is an effective way to reduce dark current and noise as well as to enhance the dynamic range and detection limit. The graph below shows the dark current and noise for an un-cooled versus cooled CCD detector at an integration time of 60 s. When operating at room temperature, the dark current nearly saturates the un-cooled CCD. When the CCD is cooled down only to 10 °C by the TEC, the dark current is reduced by about four times and the dark shot noise is reduced by about two times. This makes the CCD capable of operating at a long integration time to detect weak optical signals. When a CCD based spectrometer is involved in non-demanding high light level situations such as LED measurement applications, the dark noise reduction due to TE cooling is minimal because of the relatively short integration time used. The temperature regulation of detector arrays under these conditions will provide benefit for long term baseline stability. Return to Econic Product page