The Percival 2-Megapixel monolithic active pixel imager

Abstract

The peak brilliance reached by today's Free-Electron Laser and Synchrotron light sources requires photon detectors matching their output intensity and other characteristics in order to fully realize the sources' potential. The Pixellated Energy Resolving CMOS Imager, Versatile And Large (Percival) is a dedicated soft X-ray imager (0.25–1 keV) developed for this purpose by a collaboration of DESY, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory/STFC, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Diamond Light Source, and Pohang Accelerator Laboratory. Following several generations of prototypes, the Percival "P2M" 2-Megapixel imager—a 4.5×5 cm monolithic, stitched sensor with an uninterrupted imaging area of 4×4 cm2 (1408×1484 pixels of 27×27 μm—was produced and has demonstrated basic functionality with a first-light image using visible light. It is currently being brought to full operation in a front-illuminated configuration. The readout system being commissioned in parallel has been developed specifically for this imager which will produce—at full 300 Hz frame rate—data at 20 Gbit/s. A first wafer with eight Percival P2M chips has undergone backthinning to enable soft X-ray detection. It has been diced and chips are currently being wirebonded. We summarize here the P2M system, the project status, and show the P2M sensor's first response to visible light.