3. Conclusion

To sum up, a few simplified electrical models highlight the determining factors in the design of energy counting or measurement chains. These factors are the detector capacitance, which should be kept as small as possible, the operating temperature of the detector and the first amplification stage, which should be lowered to achieve ultimate resolutions, and the accepted counting rate, which should be reduced to achieve the best resolution performance.

Measurement time is a crucial parameter. Its choice determines the statistical accuracy of a count measurement or the resolution of an energy measurement. The optimum value is deduced from electronic noise sources and the detector's capacitance, and is not always compatible with expected count rates. Time-varying filters offer interesting properties for maintaining good measurement accuracy at high count rates....