Electrical measurements of a multi-mode hybrid pixel detector ASIC for radiation detection

We present the first electrical measurements of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to be used in a hybrid pixel detector intended for dosimetry and radiation detection. The dosimeter has three programmable modes of operation: photon counting mode, energy integration mode, and dosimetry mode. The ASIC comprises a matrix of 16 by 16 (256 total) square pixels of 220 μm pitch, providing 12.4 mm2 of segmented active area. Each pixel can be configured to operate in one of the three radiation measurement modes, with programmable-depth counters and shift registers to tailor the data word size and optimise the readout frame-rate in a given mode. The individual energies of impinging photons are determined through programmable analogue energy threshold discrimination, time over threshold measurement, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the dosimetry mode contains 16 digital energy thresholds and automatically sorts data into 16 corresponding energy bin registers. The chip's output is therefore pre-processed charge spectra of the radiation field. This paper discusses results from measurements taken using programmable test-pulses to inject controlled stimuli into the pixel circuits.