First Results From a Custom Low-Noise Silicon Pixel Detector Designed for Use With X-ray Capillary Optics

We present the first results of a custom low-noise silicon pixel detector designed for use with X-ray capillary optics, coupled with an ultra low-noise front-end application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). This system is intended to perform as a smaller, lighter, more sensitive, and low-powered alternative to currently existing X-ray telescope technologies. The detector has an active area of 100 microns, and its small size leads to a low capacitance of well under 1 pF and a leakage current of less than 1 pA. The front-end ASIC, developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory, was designed for low capacitance detectors but had not been previously tested with a detector. Here we discuss the detector design, the experimental setup of this detector and ASIC, and preliminary results. Using radioactive lab sources, we measure a FWHM of 211±8 eV at 5.9 keV and are able to set the threshold as low as 0.6 keV.