Large Area Pixelated and Tiled X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Detector

41103 November 20, 1996 Innova Laboratories, Inc. This project will develop a large area, robust, moderate cost, pixelated, and tiled x-ray and gamma-ray, detector needed for detectors at CEBAF and at colliders around the world. Thin layers of polyimide or Kapton or beryllium oxide will be used to support the detection and readout elements, provide low-noise and low-capacitance interconnections between the elements, conduct heat away from the center of the array, and allow the detection elements to be tiled together with little loss of detection capability. Phase I will demonstrate that one small array can be connected to its readout chip with good detection efficiency for 50 keV energy x-rays. Phase II will design and fabricate a larger array and to evaluate this technology for application to protein crystallography, digital subtractive x-ray imaging, medical gamma-ray imaging and gamma-ray astronomy. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The detector should lead to significantly improved energy and spatial resolution for nuclear physics applications where gamma-ray measurements are carried out. Such a detector is also important to medical and bio-technology needs for x-ray and gamma-ray imaging which represent a potential market of hundreds of millions of dollars.