Silicon array detector system for high-rate, low-noise X-ray spectroscopy

A silicon array detector system is being developed for X-ray fluorescence applications at synchrotron light sources. The detector is wire-bonded to integrated circuits, which feature 32 channels of charge-sensitive preamplifiers followed by variable-gain pulse shaping amplifiers. The ICs directly drive CAMAC-based A/D boards designed for this application. The data are transferred from the custom designed 16-channel ADC modules via FERABUS readout to commercially available histogramming modules and memory lookup units. The system features fully parallel signal processing to maintain high count-rate capability and to preserve the position information. Special LabVIEW-based software has been developed for data acquisition and analysis. The system, currently being assembled for 64 channels, can easily be expanded by increasing the number of detection channels and hardware modules.