Instrumentation Division Seminar

This talk will give an overview on DEPFET and pnCCD systems developed by the MPI Halbleiterlabor for various applications with emphasis on data acquisition and electronics. The DEpleted P-channel Field Effect Transistor (DEPFET) and pn-Charge Coupled Device (pnCCD) are two detector concepts based on the principle of sideways depletion. In particular the DEPFET concept is based on the combination of sideways depletion with a p-channel field effect transistor as the first amplification stage. It can be used as a building block for a large variety of different applications ranging from X-ray astrophysics and particle physics to photon science. One of the main drivers for the DEPFET research is the development of detectors for satellite based X-ray astrophysics missions like IXO (International X-ray Observatory) or GRAVITAS, requiring good energy resolution at high frame rates and low power. The success of the pnCCD is historically related to the EPIC pnCCD camera of the XMM Newton telescope. More recently an advanced frame store pnCCD has been developed for the upcoming eROSITA mission. It is a backside illuminated, fully depleted device utilizing column parallel nJFET transistors as the first stage. Within our R&D activity we have developed various front end ASICs and a modular data acquisition system. Details of these systems, together with examples of applications, will be presented and discussed.