Front-end ASIC for high resolution X-ray spectrometers

We present an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for high-resolution x-ray spectrometers. The ASIC is designed to read out signals from a pixelated silicon drift detector (SDD). Each hexagonal pixel has an area of 15 mm² and an anode capacitance of less than 100 fF. There is no integrated Field Effect transistor (FET) in the pixel, rather, the readout is done by wire- bonding the anodes to the inputs of the ASIC. The ASIC provides 14 channels of low-noise charge amplification, high-order shaping with baseline stabilization, and peak detection with analog memory. The readout is sparse and based on low voltage differential signaling. An interposer provides all the interconnections required to bias and operate the system. The channel dissipates 1.6 mW. The complete 14-pixel unit covers an area of 210 mm², dissipates 12 mW cm^-2, and can be tiled to cover an arbitrarily large detection area. We measured a preliminary resolution of 172 eV at -35 C on the 6 keV peak of a ⁵⁵Fe source.