  We report spectral and imaging performance of a pixelated CdZnTe detector
custom designed for the \emph{MeVCube} project: a small Compton telescope on a
CubeSat platform. \emph{MeVCube} is expected to cover the energy range between
$200\;\mathrm{keV}$ and $4\;\mathrm{MeV}$, with performance comparable to the
last generation of larger satellites. In order to achieve this goal, an energy
resolution of few percent in full width at half maximum (FWHM) and a $3$-D
spatial resolution of few millimeters for the individual detectors are needed.
The severe power constraints present in small satellites require very low power
read-out electronics for the detector. Our read-out is based on the VATA450.3
ASIC developed by \emph{Ideas}, with a power consumption of only
$0.25\;\mathrm{mW/channel}$, which exhibits good performance in terms of
dynamic range, noise and linearity. A $2.0\;\mathrm{cm} \times 2.0\;\mathrm{cm}
\times 1.5\;\mathrm{cm}$ CdZnTe detector, with a custom $8 \times 8$ pixel
anode structure read-out by a VATA450.3 ASIC, has been tested. A preliminary
read-out system for the cathode, based on a discrete \emph{Amptek} A250F charge
sensitive pre-amplifier and a DRS4 ASIC, has been implemented. An energy
resolution around $3\%$ FWHM has been measured at a gamma energy of
$662\;\mathrm{keV}$; at $200\;\mathrm{keV}$ the average energy resolution is
$6.5\%$, decreasing to $\lesssim 2\%$ at energies above $1\;\mathrm{MeV}$. A
$3$-D spatial resolution of $\approx 2\,\mathrm{mm}$ is achieved.
