Detector Principles

Modern silicon radiation detectors for high resolution spectroscopy and imaging are the focus of the development and research work at PNSensor. All detectors are fabricated on ultrapure silicon and operated in a fully depleted mode delivering maximum detection thickness for the incoming irradiation. A minimized anode capacitance and an integrated first amplification step guarantee a low noise level and an excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Some detectors as the pn-CCD and the Active Pixel Sensor (APS) are pixelated and used for ultrafast imaging, others as the Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) serve as high-resolution high-count rate spectrometers in material analysis at an operation point very close to room termperature. In the following the Basic Principles and Performance Values of the various detector types are described: