X-ray imaging with ePix100a: a high-speed, high-resolution, low-noise camera

The ePix100A camera is a 0.5 megapixel (704 x 768 pixels) camera for low noise x-ray detection applications requiring high spatial and spectral resolution. The camera is built around a hybrid pixel detector consisting of 4 ePix100a ASICs ip-chip bonded to one sensor. The pixels are 50 μm x 50 μm (active sensor size ~ 35:4mm x 38:6 mm), with a noise of ~ 180 eV rms, a range of 100 8 keV photons, and a current frame rate of 240 Hz (with an upgrade path towards ~ 10 kHz). This performance leads to a camera combining a high dynamic range, high signal to noise ratio, high speed and excellent linearity and spectroscopic performance. While the ePix100A ASIC has been developed for pulsed source applications (e.g., free-electron lasers), it performs well with more common sources (e.g., x-ray tubes, synchrotron radiation). Several cameras have been produced and characterized and the results are reported here, along with x-ray imaging applications demonstrating the camera performance.