A Silicon Drift Detector is an X-Ray detector used mainly in X-Ray Spectrometry (XRF and EDS) and Electron Microscopy. It has a high sampling rate and a high energy resolution.
A Silicon Drift Detector measures the energy of an incoming photon by the amount of ionisation it produces in the high purity silicon the detector is made of.
They are so sensitive that, in order to operate, they must be kept at extremely stable conditions.
This was my task: design a way to keep the temperature of the detector stable.
So I designed a cooling system based on a Peltier Cell. One end of the cell is kept at a steady, cool temperature by a continuous stream of water, and the other end is connected to the detector. The whole structure is made out of machine copper to increase heat transfer.
The whole assembly, as well as the electronics, is kept under ozone in order to avoid condensation on the electronics components caused by the low temperature
I implemented a PID controller in order to control the Peltier cell in a closed loop. The software used to implement the PID controller is LabVIEW, which I learned how to use on the spot.
