Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
The design and performances of a system for high resolution X-ray spectroscopy are presented. The detector is a low capacitance diode built on high resistivity silicon. The signal preamplification is made by means of an ultra-low noise charge amplifier of new conception. Presently the system exhibits an equivalent noise charge of 61 r.m.s. electrons at 297 K and 32 r.m.s. electrons at 223 K. It is shown how an improvement down to 30 r.m.s. electrons at room temperature is expected employing an integrated transistor on the detector chip.