Analysis of the charge collection process in solid state X-ray detectors

Physics with X-rays spans from observing large scales in X-ray
astronomy down to small scales in material structure analyses with
synchrotron radiation. Both fields of research require imaging detectors
featuring spectroscopic resolution for X-rays in an energy range of
0.1keV to 20.0keV. Originally driven by the need for an imaging
spectrometer on ESA's X-ray astronomy satellite mission XMM-Newton,
X-ray pnCCDs were developed at the semiconductor laboratory of the
Max-Planck-Institute. The pnCCD is a pixel array detector
made of silicon. It is sensitive over a wide band from near infrared-
over optical- and UV-radiation up to X-rays.

This thesis describes the dynamics of signal electrons from the moment
after their generation until their collection in the potential minima of
the pixel structure. Experimentally, a pinhole array was used to scan
the pnCCD surface with high spatial resolution. Numerical simulations
were used as a tool for the modeling of the electrical conditions inside
the pnCCD. The results predicted by the simulations were compared with
the measurements.

Both, experiment and simulation, helped to establish a model for the
signal charge dynamics in the energy range from 0.7keV to 5.5keV.
More generally, the presented work has enhanced the understanding of the
detector system on the basis of a physical model. The developed
experimental and theoretical methods can be applied to any type of array
detector which is based on the full depletion of a semiconductor
substrate material.