Method and circuit arrangement for compensating for rate dependent change of conversion factor in a drift-type radiation detector and a detector appliance

1. A circuit arrangement for compensating for a rate dependent change of a charge-to-voltage conversion factor in a drift-type radiation detector, comprising:

an information collection circuit adapted to collect information about a momentary photon hit rate affecting said drift-type radiation detector,

a control signal generation circuit coupled to an output of said information collection circuit and adapted to generate a control signal indicative of said momentary photon hit rate and

a controllable current generator adapted to respond to said control signal by causing a drain current of controllable magnitude to flow through an integrated amplifier of said drift-type radiation detector, said controllable magnitude of said drain current being dependent on the value of said control signal.

2. A circuit arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein said information collection circuit is adapted to monitor a drain-to-source voltage in said integrated amplifier.

3. A circuit arrangement according to claim 2 , wherein a drain of a field-effect transistor of said integrated amplifier is coupled to a fixed potential, and said information collection circuit comprises a comparator having an output and adapted to compare a source potential of said field-effect transistor to a reference and to deliver an output signal at said output, the magnitude of said output signal being proportional to the absolute difference between said source potential and said reference.

4. A circuit arrangement according to claim 3 , additionally comprising a linearizing circuit between said output of said comparator and said controllable current generator.

5. A detector appliance for measuring X-ray spectra, comprising:

a drift-type radiation detector with an integrated amplifier,

a current generator adapted to cause a drain current to flow through said integrated amplifier,

a rate dependent information collecting circuit element adapted to produce an output indicative of a momentary photon hit rate affecting said drift-type radiation detector, and

a coupling from said rate dependent information collecting circuit element to said current generator;

wherein said current generator is controllable and responsive to a control signal received through said coupling by controllably changing the magnitude of said drain current.

6. A detector appliance according to claim 5 , additionally comprising a preamplifier coupled to receive and amplify a source potential obtained from said integrated amplifier, wherein said rate dependent information collecting circuit is coupled to receive said source potential as information indicative of a momentary photon hit rate affecting said drift-type radiation detector.

7. A detector appliance according to claim 6 , additionally comprising a series coupling of a linear amplifier and a multichannel analyser coupled to an output of said preamplifier, wherein the rate dependent information collecting circuit element, the current generator and the coupling coupling from said rate dependent information collecting circuit element to said current generator together are adapted to compensate for rate dependent shift in peak positions in said multichannel analyser.

8. A detector appliance according to claim 5 , wherein said integrated amplifier is a field effect transistor comprising a drain electrode, a source electrode and a gate electrode, and said current generator is coupled between the source electrode of said field effect transistor and a fixed potential.

9. A detector appliance according to claim 8 , wherein said rate dependent information collecting circuit element has a first input coupled to the source electrode of said field effect transistor and a second input coupled to a reference potential, and said rate dependent information collecting circuit element is adapted to measure a potential difference between the source electrode of said field effect transistor and said reference potential, which potential difference constitutes said information indicative of a momentary photon hit rate affecting said drift-type radiation detector.

10. A method for compensating for the rate dependent change of charge-to-voltage conversion factor in a drift-type radiation detector, comprising:

detecting a change in a momentary photon hit rate affecting said drift-type radiation detector, and

changing a drain current flowing through an integrated amplifier of said drift-type radiation detector by an amount proportional to the detected change in said momentary photon hit rate.

11. A method according to claim 10 , wherein detecting a change in said momentary photon hit rate comprises detecting a change in a source potential of said integrated amplifier.