Development of X-ray imaging spectroscopy sensor with SOI CMOS technology

We have been developing a monolithic active pixel sensor with the 0.2 μm Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) CMOS technology, i.e. SOIPIX, for the X-ray imaging spectroscopy on future astronomical satellites. SOIPIX includes a thin CMOS readout layer and a thick high-resistivity Si-sensor layer vertically on a single chip, which would provide advantages in capabilities of direct and flexible readout circuitries over charge-coupled device (CCD). We have built INTPIX2/3 (2008/2009) and XRPIX1(2010). We successfully confirmed the capability of X-ray imaging and spectroscopy in a photon-counting mode by irradiating INTPIX2/3 with monochromatic X-rays. To reduce the readout noise, we designed and built XRPIX1, which has a correlated double sampling (CDS) readout circuit in each pixel to suppress the reset noise. We obtained an energy resolution of FWHM ∼1.5 keV(7%)@22 keV with XRPIX1 cooled at 50 degree. Moreover, XRPIX1 offers intra-pixel hit trigger and one-dimensional hit-pattern outputs. We also confirmed the trigger capability by irradiating a single pixel of XRPIX1 with laser light.