Using a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) as an x-ray single-photon energy-dispersive detector

A breadboard setup constructed at MOXTEK, Inc. is capable of capturing both x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) information simultaneously using a charge-coupled device (CCD) as the x-ray detector. Each pixel on the CCD is used as a single event energy-dispersive detector. NASA is funding the instrument's construction because of its capabilities and small size. The CCD captures both the energy and the position of an x-ray photon. With the energy and spatial information we are able to construct fluorescence spectra as well as diffraction patterns. X-ray events that deposit their energy in one pixel (single events) are kept, and x-ray events that split into two or more pixels (split events) are discarded from the data set. This paper focuses on how the CCD captures x-ray information and how the information is sorted by means of algorithms to provide both XRF and XRD information.