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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]

Abstract The TRISTAN project is an extension of the KATRIN experiment to search for the signature of keV-scale sterile neutrinos in the tritium beta decay spectrum. Sterile neutrinos are hypothetical particles that mix with the active neutrinos and thus affect the spectral shape of the beta decay. For the spectroscopy of electrons from the high-activity tritium source a novel pixelated silicon drift detector (SDD) is in development. In this work the characterization of 7-pixel SDD prototypes equipped with the IDeF-X BD ASIC is presented. The prototype detectors have pixel diameters between 0.5 and 2 mm with 2–12 drift rings. The ASIC noise floor was reached with all designs. A particular focus of the characterization measurements was the study of charge sharing. A very good general performance of the SDD prototypes was demonstrated. In order to reduce charge sharing the detector prototyping continues with SDDs with a pixel diameter of 3 mm. The next prototypes with 160 pixels are in production. Highlights • TRISTAN aims to search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos at KATRIN. • A novel 4000 pixel SDD array will measure the entire tritium beta spectrum. • Silicon drift detector prototypes with ultra-thin dead layer were tested. • First measurements with 7-pixel SDDs to prove the concept were successful. • Data with tritium was taken at Troitsk nu-mass to develop analysis methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]