A NOVEL DETECTOR FOR X-RAY ABSORPTION SPECTROCOPY

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE I RESEARCH PROJECT IS TO PRODUCE A NEW TYPE OF X-RAY DETECTOR FOR USE IN X-RAY ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY (XAS) EXPERIMENT AT SYNCHROTRON SOURCES. PRESENT XAS STUDIES ARE LIMITED BY EXISTING DETECTORS. THE PLANNED DETECTOR SYSTEM WOULD CONSIST OF AN ARRAY OF SILICON DETECTORS WITH THE FIRST STAGE OF AMPLIFICATION PROVIDED BY A JUNCTION FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR (JFET) INTEGRATED WITH THE DETECTOR. THE DETECTOR ARRAY WOULD BE CAPABLE OF HIGH COUNT RATES, GOOD ENERGY RESOLUTION AND WOULD BE OPERATED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THESE DETECTORS IS STRAIGHTFORWARD, SINCE A MODIFICATION OF AN EXISTING MANUFACTURING PROCESS WILL BE USED TO FABRICATE THEM.