The speedster-EXD: a new event-triggered hybrid CMOS x-ray detector

Abstract

We present preliminary characterization of the Speedster-EXD, a new event driven hybrid CMOS detector (HCD) developed in collaboration with Penn State University and Teledyne Imaging Systems. HCDs have advantages over CCDs including lower susceptibility to radiation damage, lower power consumption, and faster read-out time to avoid pile-up. They are deeply depleted and able to detect x-rays down to approximately 0.1 keV. The Speedster-EXD has additional in-pixel features compared to previously published HCDs including: (1) an in-pixel comparator that enables read out of only the pixels with signal from an x-ray event, (2) four different gain modes to optimize either full well capacity or energy resolution, (3) in-pixel CDS subtraction to reduce read noise, and (4) a low-noise, high-gain CTIA amplifier to eliminate interpixel capacitance crosstalk. When using the comparator feature, the user can set a comparator threshold and only pixels above the threshold will be read out. This feature can be run in two modes including single pixel readout in which only pixels above the threshold are read out and 3x3 readout where a 3×3 region centered on the central pixel of the X-ray event is read out. The comparator feature of the Speedster-EXD increases the detector array effective frame rate by orders of magnitude. The new features of the Speedster-EXD hybrid CMOS x-ray detector are particularly relevant to future high throughput x-ray missions requiring large-format silicon imagers.