Measurements of spectral and position resolution on a 16x16 pixel CZT imaging hard X-ray detector

摘要

Cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) pixel detectors show very good spectral and spatial resolution and are suitable for use in compact hard X-ray sensors operated without cryogenics. One of the more interesting astrophysical application is their use as focal plane detectors for multilayer hard X-ray telescopes operating in the 15-70 keV energy band. Here we report on results obtained using a 16x16 CZT pixel detector (10 x 10 x 1 mm~3 single crystal) with 500μm pixels operated at room temperature using standard commercial electronics. The results clearly show that the use of small pixels is effective in reducing one of the major drawbacks of CZT planar detectors i.e. the considerable amount of charge loss, due to hole trapping, which gives rise to a reduced energy resolution and a low energy tail in the pulse-height spectra.