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In this article, we present the study and the experimental results of a charge sensitive amplifier (CSA) for the mini-silicon drift detector (SDD) pixel sensors of the DEPleted Field-Effect Transistor (DEPFET) sensor with signal compression (DSSC) detector for photon science applications at the European X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) GmbH in Hamburg area. The DSSC detector must be able to cope with an image frame rate up to 4.5 MHz and with a dynamic range up to 104 photons/pixel/pulse for a photon energy of 1 keV. These goals will be pursued with the adoption of the DEPFET detector strategy. For the first camera prototype, a simpler solution based on a mini-SDD array read out by a conventional CSA has been adopted. We present here the CSA solution with a very simple V-to-I converter stage, which allows the self-canceling of the offset current flowing between the CSA and the filter, without the need of an intermediate stage. The CSA is compatible with the same application-specified integrated circuit (ASIC) architecture and readout chain already designed for the DEPFET detector. We present two versions of the CSA: one with a linear response and another with a nonlinear output characteristic. The nonlinear version provides increased input dynamic range preserving single-photon sensitivity. The experimental measurements have demonstrated the functionality of the proposed self-canceling solution and good noise performance with an equivalent noise charge (ENC) of 65 e- rms at the 4.5-MHz frame rate and a linearity error lower than 0.25% of the complete channel. In addition, the functionality of the nonlinear version (signal compression version) of the CSA has been demonstrated, without penalty in noise performance in the linear region of the CSA response.

We present the 16-channel monolithic SDD array used for the spectrometer ARDESIA-16, an X-ray spectrometer based on 16-element Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) matrix specifically design to fit the requirements of synchrotron applications. In this paper, we report the design guidelines followed for the development of the detection module and the spectrometer able to host it. Characterization results of the detection modules are given in terms of energy resolution and yield of detector pixels. The detection module has been tested not only in a laboratory environment but also in a synchrotron facility at PETRA P06 beamline. Here, we carried out the first imaging measurements in the framework of the ARDESIA Project with the fast-scanning X-ray microscopy technique.

Journal of Instrumentation 16(07), P07057 (2021). doi:10.1088/1748-0221/16/07/P07057, We present ARDESIA-16, an X-ray spectrometer based on a monolithic 16-element Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) matrix specifically designed for synchrotron applications. In this work, we describe the main design guidelines which we followed concerning the signal throughput, the energy efficiency, the energy resolution and the overall solid angle covered by detector elements. The characterization of the spectrometer has been made both with radioactive sources in a laboratory environment and with synchrotron light at the P06 beamline (DESY, Hamburg). Experimental results showed an average energy resolution at the optimum peaking time equal to 125 eV (FWHM at Mn Kα), a maximum achieved Output Count Rate (OCR) equal to 17 Mcps, an increase of the energy efficiency above 10 keV thanks to the 1 mm-thick SDD and an overall solid angle equal to 0.4 sr. Finally, we report the first X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) images acquired with an ARDESIA spectrometer., Published by Inst. of Physics, London

The development of new generations of synchrotron light sources aims at increasing their beam in term of flux and brightness. To cope with extremely high-brilliance sources, fluorescence detectors must go beyond their nowadays maximum throughput while keeping almost unchanged the performance. This paper has been carried out within the framework of the ARDESIA (ARray of DEtectors for Spectroscopy and Imaging Applications) project, whose primary aim is to develop a spectrometer with count-rate capability for applications like Xray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). ARDESIA is a Silicon Drift Detector (SDD)-based, multichannel X-ray spectrometer, optimized for synchrotron applications requiring a high-count rate (>1Mcps per channel) and a high-resolution (e.g. below 150 eV of Full Width Half Maximum at peaking times faster than 200 ns) for X-ray fluorescence detection. This paper describes improvements made for the ARDESIA spectrometer on detection efficiency and overall counting rate capability to better match requirements of synchrotron experiments. These improvements have been obtained by increasing the number of channels, from 4 to 16, and the SDD thickness from 450 μm to 800 μm and 1000 μm. The new detection module and the new complete spectrometer are described in detail. The first 16-channel detection module prototype has been developed with an average resolution of 128 eV at the Mn-Kα at long peaking times (i.e. > 2 μs) and 183.5 eV at short peaking time (i.e. 32 ns). Then, the qualification of the 4channel 1mm-thick detector at the PETRA (Positron-Elektron-Tandem-Ring-Anlage) P65 beamline in DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) is reported.