A pixel segmented silicon strip detector for ultra fast shaping at low noise and low power consumption

A new radiation imaging device is proposed based on strips segmented into small pixels. Every pixel contains a submicron transistor that is normally biased in weak inversion. The ionization charge, upon collection by the pixel, changes the bias of the transistor to strong inversion and supplies a current up to several tens of a /spl mu/A. This is a consequence of the small pixel capacitance (12 fF). The drains and sources of the transistors on the same row and column are shorted to bus lines that effectively become the Y and X coordinates. These bus lines are connected to the off chip ICON amplifiers to provide a 10 ns peaking time at a noise of about 150 electrons and 1 mW power consumption, for a 10/spl times/10 cm/sup 2/ detector and a MIP excitation. The noise performance is dominated by the ICON transistors. The cross talk between adjacent strips can be kept at a few percentage points provided a low transistor bias current is used.