A 10 cm × 10 cm CdTe Spectroscopic Imaging Detector based on the HEXITEC ASIC

Abstract

The 250 μ m pitch 80x80 pixel HEXITEC detector systems have shown that spectroscopic imaging with an energy resolution of <1 keV FWHM per pixel can be readily achieved in the range of 5–200 keV with Al-pixel CdTe biased to −500 V. This level of spectroscopic imaging has a variety of applications but the ability to produce large area detectors remains a barrier to the adoption of this technology. The limited size of ASICs and defect free CdTe wafers dictates that building large area monolithic detectors is not presently a viable option. A 3-side buttable detector module has been developed to cover large areas with arrays of smaller detectors. The detector modules are 20.35 × 20.45 mm with CdTe bump bonded to the HEXITEC ASIC with coverage up to the edge of the module on three sides. The fourth side has a space of 3 mm to allow I/O wire bonds to be made between the ASIC and the edge of a PCB that routes the signals to a connector underneath the active area of the module. The detector modules have been assembled in rows of five modules with a dead space of 170 μ m between each module. Five rows of modules have been assembled in a staggered height array where the wire bonds of one row of modules are covered by the active detector area of a neighboring row. A data acquisition system has been developed to digitise, store and output the 24 Gbit/s data that is generated by the array. The maximum bias magnitude that could be applied to the CdTe detectors from the common voltage source was limited by the worst performing detector module. In this array of detectors a bias of −400 V was used and the detector modules had 93 % of pixels with better than 1.2 keV FWHM at 59.5 keV. An example of K-edge enhanced imaging for mammography was demonstrated. Subtracting images from the events directly above and below the K-edge of the Iodine contrast agent was able to extract the Iodine information from the image of a breast phantom and improve the contrast of the images. This is just one example where the energy spectrum per pixel can be used to develop new and improve existing X-ray imaging techniques.