Progress on TSV technology for Medipix3RX chip

The progress of Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology for Medipix3RX chip done at DESY is presented here. The goal of this development is to replace the wire bonds in X-ray detectors with TSVs, in order to reduce the dead area between detectors. We obtained the first working chips assembled together with Si based sensors for X-ray detection. The 3D integration technology, including TSV, Re-distribution layer deposition, bump bonding to the Si sensor and bump bonding to the carrier PCB, was done by Fraunhofer Institute IZM in Berlin. After assembly, the module was successfully tested by recording background radiation and making X-ray images of small objects. The active area of the Medipix3RX chip is 14.1 mm×14.1 mm or 256×256 pixels. During TSV processing, the Medipix3RX chip was thinned from 775 μm original thickness, to 130 μm. The diameter of the vias is 40 μm, and the pitch between the vias is 120 μm. A liner filling approach was used to contact the TSV with the RDL on the backside of the Medipix3RX readout chip

The LAMBDA photon-counting pixel detector

The Medipix3 photon-counting detector chip has a number of novel features that are attractive for synchrotron experiments, such as a high frame rate with zero dead time and high spatial resolution. DESY are developing a large-area Medipix3-based detector array (LAMBDA). A single LAMBDA module consists of 2 by 6 Medipix3 chips on a ceramic carrier board, bonded to either a single large silicon sensor or two smaller high-Z sensors. The readout system fits behind the carrier board to allow module tiling, and uses a large on-board RAM and multiple 10 Gigabit Ethernet links to permit high-speed readout. Currently, the first large silicon modules have been constructed and read out at low speed, and the firmware for highspeed readout is being developed. In addition to these silicon sensors, we are developing a germanium hybrid pixel detector in collaboration with Canberra for higher-energy beamlines. Canberra have produced a set of 256-by-256-pixel planar germanium sensors wit h 55µm pitch, and these are currently being bonded to Medipix3 readout chips by Fraunhofer IZM (Berlin)

High-Speed Readout of High-Z Pixel Detectors with the LAMBDA Detector

High-frame-rate X-ray pixel detectors make it possible to perform time-resolved experiments at synchrotron beamlines, and to make better use of these sources by shortening experiment times. LAMBDA is a photon-counting hybrid pixel detector based on the Medipix3 chip, designed to combine a small pixel size of 55 μm, a large tileable module design, high speed, and compatibility with ``high-Z sensors for hard X-ray detection. This technical paper focuses on LAMBDAs high-speed-readout functionality, which allows a frame rate of 2000 frames per second with no deadtime between successive images. This takes advantage of the Medipix3 chips ``continuous read-write function and highly parallelised readout. The readout electronics serialise this data and send it back to a server PC over two 10 Gigabit Ethernet links. The server PC controls the detector and receives, processes and stores the data using software designed for the Tango control system. As a demonstration of high-speed readout of a high-Z sensor, a GaAs LAMBDA detector was used to make a high-speed X-ray video of a computer fan

A Germanium Hybrid Pixel Detector with 55μm Pixel Size and 65,000 Channels

Hybrid pixel semiconductor detectors provide high performance through a combination of direct detection, a relatively small pixel size, fast readout and sophisticated signal processing circuitry in each pixel. For X-ray detection above 20 keV, high-Z sensor layers rather than silicon are needed to achieve high quantum efficiency, but many high-Z materials such as GaAs and CdTe often suffer from poor material properties or nonuniformities. Germanium is available in large wafers of extremely high quality, making it an appealing option for high-performance hybrid pixel X-ray detectors, but suitable technologies for finely pixelating and bump-bonding germanium have not previously been available.A finely-pixelated germanium photodiode sensor with a 256 by 256 array of 55μm pixels has been produced. The sensor has an n-on-p structure, with 700μm thickness. Using a low-temperature indium bump process, this sensor has been bonded to the Medipix3RX photoncounting readout chip. Tests with the LAMBDA readout system have shown that the detector works successfully, with a high bond yield and higher image uniformity than comparable high-Z systems. During cooling, the system is functional around -80°C (with warmer temperatures resulting in excessive leakage current), with -100°C sufficient for good performance

Germanium "hexa" detector. Production and testing

Here we present new result on the testing of a Germanium sensor for X-ray radiation. The system is made of 3 × 2 Medipix3RX chips, bump-bonded to a monolithic sensor, and is called "hexa". Its dimensions are 45 × 30 mm2 and the sensor thickness was 1.5 mm. The total number of the pixels is 393216 in the matrix 768 × 512 with pixel pitch 55 μ m. Medipix3RX read-out chip provides photon counting read-out with single photon sensitivity. The sensor is cooled to −126°C and noise levels together with flat field response are measured. For −200 V polarization bias, leakage current was 4.4 mA (3.2 μ A/mm2). Due to higher leakage around 2.5% of all pixels stay non-responsive. More than 99% of all pixels are bump bonded correctly. In this paper we present the experimental set-up, threshold equalization procedure, image acquisition and the technique for bump bond quality estimate

The LAMBDA Photon-Counting Pixel Detector and High-Z Sensor Development

Many X-ray experiments at third-generation synchrotrons benefit from using single-photon-counting detectors, due to their high signal-to-noise ratio and potential for high-speed measurements. LAMBDA (Large Area Medipix3-Based Detector Array) is a pixel detector system based on the Medipix3 readout chip. It combines the features of Medipix3, such as a small pixel size of 55 μm and flexible functionality, with a large tileable module design consisting of 12 chips (1536 × 512 pixels) and a high-speed readout system capable of running at 2000 frames per second.To enable high-speed experiments with hard X-rays, the LAMBDA system has been combined with different high-Z sensor materials. Room-temperature systems using GaAs and CdTe systems have been produced and tested with X-ray tubes and at synchrotron beamlines. Both detector materials show nonuniformities in their raw image response, but the pixel yield is high and the uniformity can be improved by flat-field correction, particularly in the case of GaAs. High-frame-rate experiments show that useful information can be gained on millisecond timescales in synchrotron experiments with these sensors