A detector device is described comprising an x-ray detector structure having a detection surface defining at least one separately addressable region for detecting incident x-ray radiation intensity thereon, wherein the separately addressable region is divided into a plurality of sub-regions provided on the detection surface each provided with a filter layer on the detection surface, the filter layers of a given separately addressable region comprising discrete and different materials with discrete defined and spectroscopically spaced x-ray absorption edges. A method of device manufacture, and an apparatus and method for the inspection and characterization of materials employing such a detector device, are also described.