Cadmium Zinc Telluride Detectors for a Next-Generation Hard X-ray Telescope

TL;DR

This paper presents detailed simulations of thin CZT detectors with small pixels for a next-generation hard X-ray space telescope, aiming to improve spatial and energy resolution in response to advanced mirror technology.

Contribution

It introduces comprehensive simulation methods for small-pixel CZT detectors, guiding the design of detectors with enhanced resolution for future X-ray telescopes.

Findings

Charge sharing enables high-resolution photon localization.

Simulations show effective energy reconstruction using multiple pixel signals.

Design insights for hybrid ASIC-CZT detector packages.

Abstract

We are currently developing Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors for a next-generation space-borne hard X-ray telescope which can follow up on the highly successful NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) mission. Since the launch of NuSTAR in 2012, there have been major advances in the area of X-ray mirrors, and state-of-the-art X-ray mirrors can improve on NuSTAR's angular resolution of ~1 arcmin Half Power Diameter (HPD) to 15" or even 5" HPD. Consequently, the size of the detector pixels must be reduced to match this resolution. This paper presents detailed simulations of relatively thin (1 mm thick) CZT detectors with hexagonal pixels at a next-neighbor distance of 150 $\mu$m. The simulations account for the non-negligible spatial extent of the deposition of the energy of the incident photon, and include detailed modeling of the spreading of the free charge carriers as they move toward the detector electrodes. We discuss methods to reconstruct the energies of the incident photons, and the locations where the photons hit the detector. We show that the charge recorded in the brightest pixel and six adjacent pixels suffices to obtain excellent energy and spatial resolutions. The simulation results are being used to guide the design of a hybrid application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-CZT detector package.