Abstract: An apparatus and method for operating a direct wafer bonded semiconductor radiation detector includes bonding a plurality of wafers, receiving a radiation signal from a radiation source thereby producing electron and hole pairs via the radiation signal interacting with the detecting device. A voltage source produces a voltage across the direct bonded wafers, thereby drifting the electrons and holes through the plurality of bonded layers. The drifted electrons and/or holes include total drifted charge information of the detector and are collected and processed either at the detector or remote from the detector.