Reading a GEM with a VLSI pixel ASIC used as a direct charge collecting anode

In MicroPattern Gas Detectors (MPGD) when the pixel size is below 100 mum and the number of pixels is large (above 1000) it is virtually impossible to use the conventional PCB read-out approach to bring the signal charge from the individual pixel to the external electronics chain. For this reason a custom CMOS array of 2101 active pixels with 80 mum pitch, directly used as the charge collecting anode of a GEM amplifying structure, has been developed and built. Each charge collecting pad, hexagonally shaped, realized using the top metal layer of a deep submicron VLSI technology is individually connected to a full electronics chain (pre-amplifier, shaping-amplifier, sample & hold, multiplexer) which is built immediately below it by using the remaining five active layers. The GEM and the drift electrode window are assembled directly over the chip so the ASIC itself becomes the pixelized anode of a MPGD. With this approach, for the first time, gas detectors have reached the level of integration and resolution typical of solid-state pixel detectors. Results from the first tests of this new read-out concept are presented. An Astronomical X-ray Polarimetry application is also discussed. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.