Readout electronics for a high-resolution soft X-ray spectrometer based on silicon drift detector

The readout electronics for a prototype softX-ray spectrometer based on silicon drift detector (SDD),for precisely measuring the energy and arrival time ofX-ray photons is presented in this paper. The systemmainly consists of two parts, i.e., an analog electronicssection (including a pre-amplifier, a signal shaper and filter,a constant fraction timing circuit, and a peak hold circuit)and a digital electronics section (including an ADC and aTDC). Test results with X-ray sources show that an energydynamic range of 1-10 keV with an integral nonlinearityof less than 0.1% can be achieved, and the energy resolutionis better than 160 eV @ 5.9 keV FWHM. Using awaveform generator, test results also indicate that timeresolution of the electronics system is about 3.7 ns, whichis much less than the transit time spread of SDD (\100 ns)and satisfies the requirements of future applications.