A 1 Megapixel charge integrating hybrid pixel detector for electron diffraction

Abstract Electrons have emerged as an important complement to X-rays in crystallography, particularly for compounds that present challenges in growing crystals sufficiently large for synchrotron radiation (5–10 µm) or laboratory diffractometers (∼50 µm). Given the nature of electron-matter interactions, electron diffraction (ED) provides a way to experimentally determine the electrostatic potential of compounds. To fully harness the power of ED, we have integrated a fast, low-noise and radiation-hard 1 Megapixel JUNGFRAU detector with a modern JEOL transmission electron microscope (TEM). JUNGFRAU is a charge-integrating hybrid pixel detector, with a dynamic range of 120 MeV/pixel/frame and a maximum frame rate of 2.2 kHz in continuous mode. It can detect up to 1.3 million 200 keV electrons per pixel per second before saturation. To handle the resulting 5 GB/s raw data stream (fiberoptic; 4×10 Gbps), our system features an FPGA-based backend, Jungfraujoch , which converts raw ADC values into deposited energy and enables on-the-fly frame summation. Additionally, we developed a software package with an intuitive graphical user interface that integrates detector and microscope control. This solution provides partly automated data acquisition and post-processing, with data stored in compressed HDF5 files with comprehensive metadata. This work assesses the performance of JUNGFRAU across multiple electron energies by analyzing energy deposition and pixel spread. The complete data pipeline — from detector to user interface — is validated through an ED experiment yielding structural insights.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Instrumentation
Published
2025-12-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/20/12/c12007
Primary Topic
Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

A 1 Megapixel charge integrating hybrid pixel detector for electron diffraction

D. Greiffenberg, Tim Gruene, Kirsty A. Paton, V. Kedych et al.
Journal of Instrumentation
Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications
article

A 1 Megapixel charge integrating hybrid pixel detector for electron diffraction

D. Greiffenberg, Tim Gruene, Kirsty A. Paton, V. Kedych, M.J. Hurst, P. Sieberer, A. Mozzanica, Julian Heymes, Martin Müller, S. Hasanaj, Martin Brückner, D. Thattil, Filip Leonarski, B. Schmitt, X. Xie, R. Dinapoli, C. Ruder, D. Mezza, M. Carulla, Kiyofumi Takaba, A. Bergamaschi, Tsu‐Jae King, Simon Ebner, Κωνσταντίνος Μουστάκας, V. Gautam, E. Fröjdh, V. Hinger, C. Lopez-Cuenca, Shiqi Li, K. Ferjaoui, A Mazzoleni, J.H. Mulvey, S. Silletta
article en

Abstract

Abstract Electrons have emerged as an important complement to X-rays in crystallography, particularly for compounds that present challenges in growing crystals sufficiently large for synchrotron radiation (5–10 µm) or laboratory diffractometers (∼50 µm). Given the nature of electron-matter interactions, electron diffraction (ED) provides a way to experimentally determine the electrostatic potential of compounds. To fully harness the power of ED, we have integrated a fast, low-noise and radiation-hard 1 Megapixel JUNGFRAU detector with a modern JEOL transmission electron microscope (TEM). JUNGFRAU is a charge-integrating hybrid pixel detector, with a dynamic range of 120 MeV/pixel/frame and a maximum frame rate of 2.2 kHz in continuous mode. It can detect up to 1.3 million 200 keV electrons per pixel per second before saturation. To handle the resulting 5 GB/s raw data stream (fiberoptic; 4×10 Gbps), our system features an FPGA-based backend, Jungfraujoch , which converts raw ADC values into deposited energy and enables on-the-fly frame summation. Additionally, we developed a software package with an intuitive graphical user interface that integrates detector and microscope control. This solution provides partly automated data acquisition and post-processing, with data stored in compressed HDF5 files with comprehensive metadata. This work assesses the performance of JUNGFRAU across multiple electron energies by analyzing energy deposition and pixel spread. The complete data pipeline — from detector to user interface — is validated through an ED experiment yielding structural insights.

Journal of InstrumentationVol. 20(12)
University of Vienna (AT), Paul Scherrer Institute (CH)
Openalex Percentile: Top 81%
Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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