Distributed TES Model for Designing Low Noise Bolometers Approaching SAFARI Instrument Requirements

Transition edge sensors (TES) are the chosen detector technology for the SAFARI imaging spectrometer on the SPICA telescope. The TES are required to have an NEP of $2\mbox{--}3\times 10^{-19}~\mbox{W/}\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ to take full advantage of the cooled mirror. SRON has developed TiAu TES bolometers for the short wavelength band (30–60 μm). The TES are on SiN membranes, in which long and narrow legs act as thermal links between the TES and the bath. We present a distributed model that accounts for the heat conductance and the heat capacity in the long legs that provides a guideline for designing low noise detectors. We report our latest results that include a measured dark NEP of $4.2\times 10^{-19}~\mbox{W/}\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ and a saturation power of about 10 fW.