Developing Monolithic Silicon Sensors for Gamma-ray Astrophysics

AstroPix is a project that seeks to explore the potential of Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon (CMOS) technology in space-based high-energy astrophysics missions. Upcoming space-based missions that explore the soft- and medium-energy gamma-ray sky require detectors with precise position and energy resolution, requirements that could be met with updated tracker technology such as CMOS pixels. To gauge the potential of this silicon technology, an existing monolithic silicon detector named ATLASPix, borrowed from the CERN experiment ATLAS, was exposed to photon sources. The intrinsic energy resolution of ATLASPix, a driving parameter, was determined to be $<$10% for all tested photon sources, exceeding our baseline requirement of $<$10% at 60 keV. I will discuss how the ATLASPix performance has informed our design for future generations of AstroPix pixels.