Characterisation of silicon strip detectors with a binary readout chip for X-ray imaging

In this paper we describe the development of a multichannel readout system for X-ray measurements using silicon strip detectors. The developed system is based on a binary readout architecture and optimised for detection of X-rays of energies in the range 6–30 keV. The critical component of the system is the 32-channel front-end chip, RX32N, which has been optimised for low noise performance, small channel to channel variation and high counting rate operation. The performance of the chip is demonstrated by measurements of complex X-ray spectra using silicon strip and pad detectors. The obtained results allow to use the system at room temperature with the detection threshold in the range from 500 to 10 000 electrons, which is enough in many crystallographic and medical imaging applications.