Silicon drift detectors for high resolution room temperature X-ray spectroscopy

New cylindrical silicon drift detectors have been designed, fabricated and tested. They comprise an integrated on-chip amplifier system with continuous reset, on-chip voltage divider, electron accumulation layer stabilizer, large area, homogeneous radiation entrance window and a drain for surface generated leakage current. The test of the 3.5 mm(2) large individual devices, which have also been grouped together to form a sensitive area up to 21 mm(2) have shown the following spectroscopic results: at room temperature (300 K) the devices have shown a full width at half maximum at the Mn-K alpha line of a radioactive Fe-55 source of 225 eV with shaping times of 250 to 500 ns. At -20 degrees C the resolution improves to 152 eV at 2 mu s Gaussian shaping. At temperatures below 200 K the energy resolution is below 140 eV. With the implementation of a digital filtering system the resolution approaches 130 eV. The system was operated with count rates up to 800 000 counts per second and per readout node, still conserving the spectroscopic qualities of the detector system.