Jun 6 2014
Silvaco Japan Co., Ltd. (Silvaco) has announced that RIKEN SPring-8 Center (RIKEN) has successfully developed their high performance X-ray pixel detector with multi-port, charge-coupled device (Multi-port CCD), which is the eye of the X-ray Free Electron Laser facility "SACLA," using Silvaco's TCAD products.
SACLA's synchrotron radiation is used in a wide range of research like that done at the fundamental science level (e.g., real-time observations of material structures and catalyst reaction mechanisms at the atomic level) and in the industrial field, such as analyzing the mechanisms of metal fatigue prevention. However, the existing detectors did not satisfy measurement accuracy and efficiency requirements for signals ranging from single to over thousands of photons. Therefore, an international collaborative research group, with RIKEN's researchers forming the core, had started the development of a Multi-port CCD device using advanced CCD sensor technology.
The target of this project was the achievement of challenging specifications such as extreme radiation hardness, effective charge collection, fast operation and large-sized sensor area. RIKEN simulated the X-ray laser detection process with Silvaco's TCAD Atlas Device 3D simulator, and developed the structure of the internal sensor so that the electric field will keep collecting charges even when large amounts of positive and negatives charges are emitted.
RIKEN's Leader of the Data Acquisition Team, SPring-8 Center, Dr. Takaki Hatsui said, "Atlas Device 3D includes many models and functions to simulate X-ray imaging sensors for innovative research. We found it especially effective for analyzing the diffusion of charges and its temperature dependencies in transient analysis. We will continue to use Atlas to accelerate our research."
David Halliday, CEO of Silvaco, said, "RIKEN is a great research institute and we are very proud that they have adopted Silvaco's TCAD products. Silvaco has been involved in the development of radiation effects simulation for a long time and as such, has lots of experience. We will continue improving our products to contribute to our customer's technical innovations."
Source: http://www.silvaco.com