Electrical measurements of a multi-mode hybrid pixel detector ASIC for radiation detection

We present the first electrical measurements of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to be used in a hybrid pixel detector intended for dosimetry and radiation detection. The dosimeter has three programmable modes of operation: photon counting mode, energy integration mode, and dosimetry mode. The ASIC comprises a matrix of 16 by 16 (256 total) square pixels of 220 mu m m pitch, providing 12.4 mm(2) of segmented active area. Each pixel can be configured to operate in one of the three radiation measurement modes, with programmable-depth counters and shift registers to tailor the data word size and optimise the readout frame-rate in a given mode. The individual energies of impinging photons are determined through programmable analogue energy threshold discrimination, time over threshold measurement, or a combination thereof. Further-more, the dosimetry mode contains 16 digital energy thresholds and automatically sorts data into 16 corresponding energy bin registers. The chip's output is therefore pre-processed charge spectra of the radiation field. This paper discusses results from measurements taken using programmable test-pulses to inject controlled stimuli into the pixel circuits.