EIGER: Next generation single photon counting detector for X-ray applications

How chips helped discover the Higgs boson at CERN

“…Digital circuitry for in-pixel processing becomes a more prominent part in the pixel in terms of area and transistor count. This trend is also visible in pixel readout chips developed as a spin-off for other applications [65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73] like photon counting: TABLE II. lists several readout chips, the ones intended for high energy physics (white background) all use enclosed layout except ClicPix_demo [77] where the 65 nm technology provides sufficient radiation tolerance without it, the one for other applications (gray background) do not use enclosed layout except Eiger [72] [73].…”

R&D paths of pixel detectors for vertex tracking and radiation imaging

“…Originally used as pho-ton counters, whereby a incident X-ray would fire a discriminator and increment an in-pixel counter, integrating pixels are also finding application, particularly with free electron lasers (FELs). The PILATUS [3] detector system, and its successor EIGER [4], for imaging in synchrotron radiation experiments stems out of the CMS pixel R&D at PSI, Villigen and it is widely employed on beam-lines world-wide. It offers single photon counting, fast readout, superior PSF compared to CCDs, fluorescent suppression by in-pixel energy threshold and no readout noise.…”

“…It offers single photon counting, fast readout, superior PSF compared to CCDs, fluorescent suppression by in-pixel energy threshold and no readout noise. The detector is commercially available 4 . A similar development took place also at CPPM, Marseille 5 .…”

“…There is a broad spectrum of other applications of semiconductor pixel technologies developed towards the specifications of these experiments. Their number and diversity is growing, as new facilities put emphasis on specs, such as frame rate, radiation tolerance and space-time resolution, which are the primary focus of the HEP-driven R&D. Examples of the fields where pixels developed from results of R&D for collider experiments include imaging at light sources [2][3][4] and free electron lasers (FEL) [5], including hybrid [6] and DEPFET [7] technologies, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), with hybrid [8,9] and monolithic sensors [10,11], plasma diagnostics, biological imaging [12], auto-radiography, with hybrid and monolithic CMOS [13] and DEPFET [14] pixels, fluorescence microscopy, with monolithic pixels [15], and medical imaging, with hybrid pixels [16], beam monitoring and diagnostics for future accelerators, ion-beam analysis [17] and real-time dose delivery assessment and quality assurance in hadron therapy [18,19]. There are also examples of returns of these developments to the benefit of HEP applications, as discussed in section 5.…”

High-flux ptychographic imaging using the new 55 µm-pixel detector `Lambda' based on the Medipix3 readout chip

“…In combination with its small pixel size and the increased maximum photon count rate of about 3 Â 10 5 photons s À1 pixel À1 (Ballabriga, Blaj et al, 2011), in comparison to its predecessor with the Medipix2 chip, the Lambda thus becomes a valuable device in synchrotron applications such as ptychography. Another important detector development, albeit with a larger pixel area (factor 1.86), for single photon counting while framing at kHz rates is the 75 mm-pixel detector 'Eiger' (Dinapoli et al, 2011;Johnson et al, 2012) which, very recently, was successfully operated in a ptychographic imaging experiment (Guizar-Sicairos et al, 2014).…”