Development of CdZnTe pixel detectors for astrophysical applications

Over the last four 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 (~2cm X 2 cm), relatively small (≾ 500µm) pixels and sub-keV energy resolution. For experiments operating in satellite orbits, low 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 prototype sensor with a custom low- noise VLSI readout designed to achieve excellent spectral resolution and good imaging performance in the 2 - 100 keV band.