R. Plackett

Charged particle tracking with the Timepix ASIC

A prototype particle tracking telescope was constructed using Timepix and Medipix ASIC hybrid pixel assemblies as the six sensing planes. Each telescope plane consisted of one 1.4 cm2 assembly, providing a 256 ×256 array of 55μm square pixels. The telescope achieved a pointing resolution of 2.4μm at the position of the device under test. During a beam test in 2009 the telescope was used to evaluate in detail the performance of two Timepix hybrid pixel assemblies; a standard planar 300μm thick sensor, and 285μm thick double sided 3D sensor. This paper describes a charge calibration study of the pixel devices, which allows the true charge to be extracted, and reports on measurements of the charge collection characteristics and Landau distributions. The planar sensor achieved a best resolution of 4.0±0.1μm for angled tracks, and resolutions of between 4.4 and 11μm for perpendicular tracks, depending on the applied bias voltage. The double sided 3D sensor, which has significantly less charge sharing, was found to have an optimal resolution of 9.0±0.1μm for angled tracks, and a resolution of 16.0±0.2μm for perpendicular tracks. Based on these studies it is concluded that the Timepix ASIC shows an excellent performance when used as a device for charged particle tracking.

The timepix telescope for high performance particle tracking

The Timepix particle tracking telescope has been developed as part of the LHCb VELO Upgrade project, supported by the Medipix Collaboration and the AIDA framework. It is a primary piece of infrastructure for the VELO Upgrade project and is being used for the development of new sensors and front end technologies for several upcoming LHC trackers and vertexing systems. The telescope is designed around the dual capability of the Timepix ASICs to provide information about either the deposited charge or the timing information from tracks traversing the 14×14 mm matrix of View the MathML source pixels. The rate of reconstructed tracks available is optimised by taking advantage of the shutter driver readout architecture of the Timepix chip, operated with existing readout systems. Results of tests conducted in the SPS North Area beam facility at CERN show that the telescope typically provides reconstructed track rates during the beam spills of between 3.5 and 7.5 kHz, depending on beam conditions. The tracks are time stamped with 1 ns resolution with an efficiency of above 98% and provide a pointing resolution at the centre of the telescope of View the MathML source. By dropping the time stamping requirement the rate can be increased to View the MathML source, at the expense of a small increase in background. The telescope infrastructure provides CO2 cooling and a flexible mechanical interface to the device under test, and has been used for a wide range of measurements during the 2011–2012 data taking campaigns.

Edge pixel response studies of edgeless silicon sensor technology for pixellated imaging detectors

Silicon sensor technologies with reduced dead area at the sensors perimeter are under development at a number of institutes. Several fabrication methods for sensors which are sensitive close to the physical edge of the device are under investigation utilising techniques such as active-edges, passivated edges and current-terminating rings. Such technologies offer the goal of a seamlessly tiled detection surface with minimum dead space between the individual modules. In order to quantify the performance of different geometries and different bulk and implant types, characterisation of several sensors fabricated using active-edge technology were performed at the B16 beam line of the Diamond Light Source. The sensors were fabricated by VTT and bump-bonded to Timepix ROICs. They were 100 and 200 μ m thick sensors, with the last pixel-to-edge distance of either 50 or 100 μ m. The sensors were fabricated as either n-on-n or n-on-p type devices. Using 15 keV monochromatic X-rays with a beam spot of 2.5 μ m, the performance at the outer edge and corners pixels of the sensors was evaluated at three bias voltages. The results indicate a significant change in the charge collection properties between the edge and 5th (up to 275 μ m) from edge pixel for the 200 μ m thick n-on-n sensor. The edge pixel performance of the 100 μ m thick n-on-p sensors is affected only for the last two pixels (up to 110 μ m) subject to biasing conditions. Imaging characteristics of all sensor types investigated are stable over time and the non-uniformities can be minimised by flat-field corrections. The results from the synchrotron tests combined with lab measurements are presented along with an explanation of the observed effects.

Excalibur: A three million pixels photon counting area detector for coherent diffraction imaging based on the Medipix3 ASIC

A three million pixels photon counting area detector for the coherent diffraction imaging beam line (113) of Diamond Light Source has been developed by a joint team of Diamond and STFC staff. The detector is the state of the art of X-ray detection technology since it exploits the latest generation of Medipix ASICs family that introduced a number of innovations. The specifications required by the beam line represented a severe challenge to all of the components of the detector. The frame rate of Excalibur is up to 1,000 frames per second when stored in local RAM or up to 100 frames per second when streamed to storage. Tests with an X-ray set show the imaging capabilities of the detector as well as the data acquisition speed.

Medipix3RX: Characterizing the Medipix3 Redesign With Synchrotron Radiation

The Medipix3RX is the latest version of the Medipix3 photon counting ASICs, which implements two new operational modes, with respect to the Medipix2 ASIC, aimed at eliminating charge shared events (referred to as Charge Summing Mode (CSM)) and at providing spectroscopic information (referred to as Colour Mode (CM)). The Medipix3RX is a redesign of the Medipix3v0 ASIC and corrects for the underperformance of CSM features observed in the previous version. This paper presents the results from synchrotron X-rays tests to evaluate the Medipix3RX ASIC performance. The newly implemented CSM algorithm eliminates the charge sharing effect at the same time as allocating the event to the readout pixel corresponding to the sensor pixel where the X-ray photon impinged. The new pixel trimming circuit led to a reduced dispersion between pixels. Further results of the linearity for all the gain modes, energy resolution and pixel uniformity are also presented.

Status of the Timepix MCP-HPD development

This paper describes the design of a high-speed, single-photon sensitive, Hybrid Photon Detector (HPD). The detector consists of a vacuum tube, containing a Micro Channel Plate (MCP) and 4 CMOS pixel readout chips, sealed with a transparent optical input window with a photocathode. The design described here utilizes currently available technologies, specifically the Timepix readout chips and the Photonis Planacon MCP-PMT vacuum tubes. The aim of the project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a 4-side buttable square MCP-HPD with high packing fraction sensitive area. Presented here is the mechanical and thermal design of the prototype detector.

Comparisons between simulation and measurements taken with the Medipix3RX detector

A simulation toolkit developed for use at Diamond Light Source is presented, accompanied with experimental validation using a silicon pixel-array sensor coupled to a Medipix3RX chip controlled via the Merlin Readout System. The simulation makes use of Geant4, where photons are tracked in order to determine their position of interaction and energy deposition. Further to this, a Finite Element Methods package, Comsol, is used to model the Charge Induction Efficiencies of various sensors. Results are coupled to Geant4 simulations to provide an accurate method for computing the signals generated on each pixel within the sensor and then an algorithm to model the front-end electronics of the device. The validity of the simulation toolkit is tested by investigating charge-sharing effects using a Medipix3RX chip bump-bonded to a silicon pixel-array sensor. The dependence of the imaging parameters, on the energy threshold, is presented from both simulation and experiment for the Medipix3RX chip operated with and without the charge sharing compensation circuitry enabled. This simulation toolkit can be used to calculate image quality parameters for the next generation of detectors, including CdTe, as well as to improve data corrections on existing detectors on synchrotron beamlines.

Characterisation of Medipix3 Silicon Detectors in a Charged-Particle Beam

While designed primarily for X-ray imaging applications, the Medipix3 ASIC can also be used for charged-particle tracking. In this work, results from a beam test at the CERN SPS with irradiated and non-irradiated sensors are presented and shown to be in agreement with simulation, demonstrating the suitability of the Medipix3 ASIC as a tool for characterising pixel sensors.The DANSS project is aimed at creating a relatively compact neutrino spectrometer which does not contain any flammable or other dangerous liquids and may therefore be located very close to the core of an industrial power reactor. As a result, it is expected that high neutrino flux would provide about 15,000 IBD interactions per day in the detector with a sensitive volume of 1 m

Merlin: a fast versatile readout system for Medipix3

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Pixilated radiation sensing device

. High segmentation of the plastic scintillator will allow to suppress a background down to a 1% level. Numerous tests performed with a simplified pilot prototype DANSSino under a 3 GW