A 10 bit resolution readout channel with dynamic range compression for X-ray imaging at FELs

This work presents the characterization results of the first prototype of a readout channel for silicon pixel detectors, developed by the PixFEL collaboration in view of future X-ray Free Electron Laser (FEL) applications. The circuit, fabricated in a 65 nm CMOS technology by TSMC, has been designed to deal with a maximum input signal of 104 photons with energy from 1 keV to 10 keV, by exploiting a non-linear technique implemented at front-end level. Moreover, it has been envisioned for operation with the demanding frame rates of next generation FEL facilities, which can reach a few MHz. This paper presents results from measurements performed on the building blocks of the readout processor, along with a summary of the overall performance of the complete readout channel.