Brynn Bortree | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Development of next-generation event-driven x-ray hybrid CMOS detectors

The Penn State University High Energy Astrophysics Detector and Instrumentation Lab, in collaboration with Teledyne Imaging Sensors, has developed a next-generation event-driven X-ray hybrid CMOS detector. This detector is an HCD with a 1,024x1,024 array of 21-micron pitch pixels, featuring a comparator in each pixel to enable event-driven readout. While the full frame operation of this detector can reach readout speeds of up to 150 Hz, this event-driven operation allows readout of only those pixels that surpass a user-set charge threshold, enabling effective rates of up to 10 kHz. Here we report on the past detector development efforts at Penn State and describe these new detectors and expected performance improvements.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Characterization of Random Telegraph Noise in an H2RG X-ray Hybrid CMOS Detector

Hybrid CMOS detectors (HCDs) have several excellent features as high-performance X-ray detectors, including rapid readout, deep-depletion silicon for high quantum efficiency, radiation hardness, and low power. Random telegraph noise (RTN) is a type of noise that can reduce the performance of HCDs and other CMOS sensors. After finding and quantifying RTN in the recently developed engineering grade Speedster-EXD550 HCDs, this form of noise has also been found in other X-ray HCDs. This paper aims to investigate its presence and characteristics in the relatively mature H2RG X-ray HCD and to compare it with that of the Speedster-EXD550. We use archival data taken with an H2RG X-ray HCD at two different temperatures to determine the percentage of pixels that are being impacted by RTN. We identify RTN in 0.42% of pixels when the detector is operated at 140 K, while we are only able to identify RTN in 0.060% of pixels when the detector is operated at 160 K. We characterize RTN in two Speedster-EXD550 detectors, identifying 5.1% of pixels with RTN in one detector and 7.1% in another, which is significantly more than the H2RG. These results verify the difference between two different HCDs and provide techniques that can be applied to future hybrid CMOS detectors.

astro-ph.IM↗