High resolution X-ray photon-counting detector with scintillator-deposited charge-coupled device

We report on a new photon-counting detector possessing unprecedented spatial resolution and moderate spectral resolution for 0.1-100 keV X-rays. It consists of an X-ray charge-coupled device (CCD) and a scintillator. The scintillator is directly coupled to the back surface of the X-ray CCD. Low-energy X-rays below 10 keV can be directly detected by the CCD. The majority of hard X-rays above 10 keV pass through the CCD but can be absorbed by the scintillator, generating visible photons. We coupled needlelike CsI(Tl) on the front surface of the back-illuminated (BI) CCD. The high detection efficiency of BI CCDs in the visible band enables us to collect visible photons emitted from the CsI(Tl) efficiently, leading to the moderate spectral resolution of 28.4% at 22.1 keV and 25% at 59.5 keV. We also investigated the imaging capability of our device and demonstrated high resolution imaging with an accuracy of 10 ±3 μm at 17.4 keV.