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Caliste HD is a recently developed micro-camera designed for X and gamma-ray astronomy, based on a 1\times 1\ cm^2 CdTe Schottky pixelated detector. Its entire surface is composed of 256 pixels, disposed on a 16 \times 16 pixel array. This spectrometer is buttable on its 4 sides and can be used to create a large focal plane. It is also designed for space environment. Its IDeF-X front-end electronics has low power consumption, excellent noise performance and a wide dynamic range, from 2 keV to 1 MeV. Moreover, electronic noise performances of this device were optimized to set the low level energy threshold lower than 2 keV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DEPFET detectors are silicon (Si) active pixel sensors designed and manufactured in the Max-Planck-Institut semiconductor lab. Their high spatial resolution and high energy resolution in X-rays make them attractive for particle tracking in colliders and for X-ray astronomy. This technology is foreseen for the Wide Field Imager of the International X-ray Observatory currently in study with ESA, NASA, and JAXA. New DEPFET matrixes with 256\,\times\,256 pixels of 75-\mum pitch have been produced, mounted on ceramic boards with dedicated front-end electronics and integrated in a new setup able to acquire large-format images and spectra. Excellent homogeneity has been observed. Energy resolution as low as 127 eV FWHM at 5.9 keV has been obtained including all single events of the matrix back illuminated at -45\,^\circC and read out at a 300-frames/s rate. This paper presents experimental methods and results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The very last member of the IDeF-X ASIC family is presented: IDeF-X ECLAIRs is a 32-channel front end ASIC designed for the readout of Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) and Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe) Detectors. Thanks to its noise performance (Equivalent Noise Charge floor of 33 e- rms) and to its radiation hardened design (Single Event Latchup Linear Energy Transfer threshold of 56 MeV.cm² .mg-1), the chip is well suited for soft X-rays energy discrimination and high energy resolution, "space proof," hard X-ray spectroscopy. We measured an energy low threshold of less than 4 keV with a 10 pF input capacitor and a minimal reachable sensitivity of the Equivalent Noise Charge (ENC) to input capacitance of less than 7 e- /pF obtained with a 6 μs peak time. IDeF-X ECLAIRs will be used for the readout of 6400 CdTe Schottky monopixel detectors of the 2D coded mask imaging telescope ECLAIRs aboard the SVOM satellite. IDeF-X ECLAIRs (or IDeF-X V2) has also been designed for the readout of a pixelated CdTe detector in the miniature spectro.imager prototype Caliste 256 that is currently foreseen for the high energy detector module of the Simbol-X mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caliste project aims at hybridizing 1 cm² Cd(Zn)Te detectors with low noise front-end electronics, in a single component standing in a 1 × 1 × 2 cm³ volume. The micro-camera is a spectroscopic imager for X and gamma rays detection, with time-tagging capability. Hybridization consists in stacking full custom ASICs perpendicular to the detection surface. The first prototype Caliste 64 integrates a detector of 8 × 8 pixels of! mm pitch. Fabrication and characterizations of nine cameras units validate the design and the hybridization concept. Spectroscopic tests result in a mean energy resolution of ≈0.7 keV FWHTM at 14 keV and ∼0.85 keV FWHM at 60 keV using 1 mm-thick Al Schottky CdTe detectors biased at -400 V and cooled down to -15 °C. The new prototype called Caliste 256 integrates 16 × 16 pixels of 580 μm pitch in the same volume as Caliste 64. Electrical tests with the first sample fabricated without detector result in a mean equivalent noise charge of 64 e- rms (9.6 μs, no leakage current). Caliste devices are 4-side buttable and can be used as elementary detection units of a large hard X-ray focal plane, as for the 64 cm² high energy detector of the Simbol-X astronomical space mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]