Initial assessment of multilayer silicon detectors for hard X-ray imaging

Silicon detectors with lower material budget, ultrafast readout and radiation hardness are under developments. These unique features make pixelized silicon sensors a good option for hard X-ray imaging. To verify the performance of spatial resolution and energy sensitivity of silicon sensors to hard X-rays, a two layer setup of Pixelink PL-D725MU sensors has been tested at the Argonne National Laboratory Advanced Photon Source (APS) ID-10 sector with 29.2 keV high photon flux (4.5×10^8 to 4.5×10^(10) photons per second) X-rays. Better than 3 μm spatial resolution and clear energy characterization have been achieved by both layers. Commercial CMOS sensors with superior spatial resolution could be used for phase contrast imaging in current synchrotrons. These studies pave the path for future multilayer ultrafast silicon sensor development with ns to sub-ns readout speeds in hard X-ray imaging at synchrotrons and XFEL beamlines