The RELAXd project: Development of four-side tilable photon-counting imagers

The feasibility of using photon-counting imaging techniques with X-rays, neutrons or other types of radiation for many applications in materials analysis and bio-medical sciences has already been well demonstrated. A hybrid imager consisting of an appropriate sensor chip flip-chipped on top of a Medipix2 readout ASIC is an example of such a device. It can count single X-ray photons, without any noise or dark current, at high fluxes (several Gigaphotons per cm2 per second). The limiting factors for more widespread usage of these devices in bio-medical applications (e.g. mammography or small animal imaging) are the small size of the active area (about 2 cm2 per chip) and the low frame rate. The aim of the RELAXd project (high REsolution Large Area X-ray Detector) is to develop a high frame-rate, fully 3D-integrated microsystem, consisting of four Medipix2 readout chips bump-bonded to one silicon sensor chip forming the basic building module. This paper presents the first results of this task focusing on the used wafer-level postprocessing technologies which are needed to achieve the 3D architecture, required for four-side tiling.