In this paper we discuss the design and performance of a new family of swept charge devices intended for X-ray spectroscopy. The devices were designed to combine large area with good detection efficiency over the 0.5-10 keV band, and, importantly, to be capable of operation at "warm" temperatures, e.g. room temperature. Three types of device have been manufactured ranging in detection area from 5-420 mm² and the paper discusses the initial characterisation of the detectors over a range of temperatures. Whilst the device leakage current scales with detector area, we demonstrate that the smallest detector is capable of yielding Fano-limited X-ray spectra at room temperature, whereas the largest requires modest cooling down to -20°C to achieve this resolution.

Date Published: 22 July 2008
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7021, High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy III, 702117 (22 July 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.797077

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7021:
High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy III
David A. Dorn; Andrew D. Holland, Editor(s)