Fabrication and Testing of Novel Hybrid CMOS X-ray Detectors for Future Large-Area and High-Resolution X-ray Astronomy Missions

In the coming years, X-ray astronomy will require new soft X-ray detectors that can be read very quickly with low noise and can achieve small pixel sizes over a moderately large focal plane area. These requirements will be present for a variety of X-ray missions that will attempt to address science that was highly ranked by the 2010 Decadal Survey, including missions with science that overlaps with that of IXO and Athena, as well as other missions addressing science topics beyond those of IXO and Athena. An X-ray Surveyor mission, Lynx, was chosen by NASA for study by a Science & Technology Definition Team (STDT) so it can be considered as an option for an upcoming flagship mission. A mission such as this was endorsed by the NASA long term planning document entitled "Enduring Quests, Daring Visions," and a detailed description of one possible realization of such a mission has been referred to as SMART-X; more recently, the Lynx STDT has released an initial/interim report on the concept design for an X-ray Surveyor. This provides an ex-ample of a future mission concept with these requirements since it has high X-ray throughput and excellent spatial resolution. The HDXI instrument on this mission re-quires a detector with the characteristics that we are developing with this proposal. We propose to further the development of our latest active pixel sensor designs, in particular the hybrid CMOS detectors that we have been working with for several years, and implement our newest in-pixel and on-chip technologies that will allow us to achieve these ambitious and realistic requirements on a timeline that will make them available to upcoming X-ray missions. This proposal is a continuation of our program that has been working on these developments for the past several years. The first 3 years of the program led to the development of a new circuit design for each pixel, and the following 3-year program led to the design of a ROIC readout array for full-size detectors that contain on-chip digitization. The program is now ready for the phase that includes fabrication and subsequent testing of a full-size detector. The proposed activity for the next four years will be to in-corporate this pixel and ROIC array design into a 1k x 1k pixel full-size device so it can be thoroughly tested and characterized.

The Astrophysics Research and Analysis program (APRA) supports suborbital and suborbital-class investigations, development of detectors and supporting technology, laboratory astrophysics, and limited ground based observing. Basic research proposals in these areas are solicited for investigations that are relevant to NASA's programs in astronomy and astrophysics, including the entire range of photons, gravitational waves, and particle astrophysics. The emphasis of this solicitation is on technologies and investigations that advance NASA astrophysics missions and goals.

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