Abstract

This work presents a laboratory prototype of an Electron-Bombarded Active Pixel Sensor (EBAPS) to investigate the effects of passivation film thickness on electron energy loss and bombardment gain. Through combined experimental characterization and numerical simulations, we systematically examine the correlations among accelerating voltage, passivation layer thickness, electron gain, and dead-layer energy dissipation. Experimental results show that the fabricated EBAPS achieves a spatial resolution of 18 lp/mm at an accelerating voltage of 8000 V. Reducing the passivation layer thickness from 70 nm to 30 nm decreases dead-layer energy loss from 2000 eV to 1000 eV. An optimized Monte Carlo model is developed to simulate electron penetration behaviors under different thicknesses and voltages, and its predictions are in good agreement with experimental data. This study confirms that thinning the passivation layer effectively lowers the required bombardment voltage and improves the long-term operational reliability of EBAPS devices. These findings offer both experimental evidence and theoretical guidance for substrate thinning and surface modification strategies in EBAPS development.

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