Development of Thin-Window Silicon Drift Detector for X-ray Spectroscopy

A new set of thin-window silicon drift detectors composed of an array of hexagonal shaped detectors has been designed, constructed and tested for X-ray spectroscopy. Each individual ThinWinSDD has a thin entrance window on one side and a spiral shaped hexagonal cathode around a center anode on the other side. To produce the thin entrance window a 10 keV implantation of boron through a 500 A silicon dioxide was used. The implantation was followed by an annealing at 700 C for 30 min and a reactive ion etching step to ensure the removal of silicon dioxide from the smallest feature (5 mum). An aluminum layer is coated in the same vacuum system after back-sputtering. This step involves removing the native oxide that has formed on the top of the silicon substrate and then sputtering a 1100 A thick layer of aluminum onto the X-ray entrance window. The aluminum layer must be thick enough to block visible light, but thin enough to be transparent to soft X-rays down to 280 eV. We discuss first test results that include detector leakage current measurements and the response for multiple detectors exposed to the National Synchrotron Light Source's UV beam line U3C located at Brookhaven National Laboratory for X-ray energies as low as 280 eV.