Development of a high-spectral-resolution cadmium zinc telluride pixel detector for astrophysical applications

Abstract

Over the last six years, we have been developing imaging Cadmium Zinc Telluride pixel detectors optimized for astrophysical focusing hard X-ray telescopes. This application requires sensors with modest area, relatively small pixels (≾ 500 µm) and sub-keV energy resolution. For experiments operating in satellite orbits, energy thresholds of ~1-2 keV are also desirable. In this paper we describe the desired detector performance characteristics, and report on the status of our development effort. In particular, we present results from a 1152-channel custom low-noise VLSI readout designed to achieve excellent spectral resolution and good imaging performance in the 5 - 100 keV band.