Quad-Timepix/Timepix3 Detector Development for Solar Physics

We present the development of a quad-detector system based on the TimePix/TimePix3 ASIC architecture. The TimePix3 chip, designed by CERN, NIKHEF, and Bonn University, is powerful for its time resolution of 1.56ns, the simultaneous acquisition of time and charge data per pixel, and zero dead time operation. The detector consists of a 2 x 2 array of TimePix ASICs with CdTe substrate. The active area is 14 x 14 mm, made up of a total 512 by 512 pixel matrix. In addition, two Interface Boards and a (Reconfigurable Open Architecture Computing Hardware) ROACH board serve as (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) FPGAs to process data and allow the user to access the data via PC. Each Interface Board serves two ASICs and is connected to the ASIC board by 100-pin connectors. The ROACH board is designed by the Collaboration for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research (CASPER) and acts as an acquisition board. The assembly presented has intended applications for spectral analysis in solar physics and further possible applications in general space sciences. We demonstrate the quad detector's design and energy and spectral characterization, including power resolution, gain, and power consumption. We also remark on future work, including the miniaturization of the ROACH board FPGA to a flight-ready module.