A system for characterization of DEPFET silicon pixel matrices and test beam results

The DEPFET pixel detector offers first stage in-pixel amplification by incorporating a field effect transistor in the high resistivity silicon substrate. In this concept, a very small input capacitance can be realized thus allowing for low noise measurements. This makes DEPFET sensors a favorable technology for tracking in particle physics. Therefore a system with a DEPFET pixel matrix was developed to test DEPFET performance for an application as a vertex detector for the Belle II experiment. The system features a current based, row-wise readout of a DEPFET pixel matrix with a designated readout chip, steering chips for matrix control, a FPGA based data acquisition board, and a dedicated software package. The system was successfully operated in both test beam and lab environment. In 2009 new DEPFET matrices have been characterized in a 120 GeV pion beam at the CERN SPS. The current status of the DEPFET system and test beam results are presented.