Status of DEPFET

Abstract In a DEPFET sensor a MOSFET is integrated on a sidewards depleted p-on-n silicon detector, therefore combining the advantages of a fully depleted silicon sensor with in-pixel amplification. Presently, the DEPFET is mainly developed for two different kinds of applications: imaging spectroscopyin X-ray astronomyand the vertex detector for the International Linear Collider(ILC). In X-ray astronomy, the DEPFET sensor is chosen as focal plane detector for the XEUS mission mainly for its low noise and power consumption. In addition, the scalable pixel size makes it suitable for missions like SIMBOL-X, BepiColombo and WIMS. Using the source follower readout mode, a noise of 1.6e − is obtained at room temperature for single pixel devices. Two types of ILC devices, with and without a high energy (HE) implant, were tested in a testbeam. The signal-to-noise ratios were 100 with and 126 without HE implant. The position resolutions for both devices were found to be better than 6 μm.