High-efficiency detector array concept for x-ray astronomy based on CCDs

摘要

The detection efficiency of charge coupled devices (CCDs) in the x-ray band is dependent on the thickness of the active depletion layer in the silicon. This is typically under 35 micrometer and limited by the purity of available epitaxial substrates. For x-ray imaging, this results in a reduced CCD detection efficiency above 8 keV. In this paper, we show that by using a novel illumination geometry, CCDs can detect high energy (up to 100 keV) x rays with reasonable efficiency and good energy resolution. A novel 2-D imaging had x-ray detector based on this geometry is discussed.