Integrated readout electronics:: Enabling advanced applications of position-sensitive solid-state radiation detectors

As applications of advanced solid-state radiation detector arrays proliferate across disciplines ranging from x-ray astronomy and medical imaging to security and industrial inspection, the relative scarcity of low-noise, multi-channel integrated circuits (ICs) needed to read out these arrays has become increasingly apparent. In fact, readout ICs are now regarded to be an integral part of position-sensitive semiconductor detectors for x-ray and gamma-ray imaging. Because the requirements of various detector applications tend to be diverse, a custom IC is typically designed for a specific detector array. This often lengthens the time and raises the cost of system development. To help close the readout technology gap and facilitate advances in this field, NOVA has been formulating strategies for instrumenting different detectors of a given application category with the same "generic" IC which embodies common functions as well as selectable features. A brief overview of possible approaches to such generic ICs will be given. Within this context, accomplishments and ongoing efforts at NOVA in developing front-end ICs for various detector architectures and signal-processing scenarios will be described. We will especially consider the case of ICs used in conjunction with position sensitive CZT detectors, implemented in traditional soldered lead or flip-chip connection geometries, to perform spectroscopic, energy-binning or current-mode type measurements.