The dual-radiator RICH (dRICH) detector of the ePIC experiment at the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) will make use of silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) sensors for the detection of the Cherenkov light emitted by particles crossing its radiators. The photodetector will cover $\sim$ 3 m$^{2}$ with 3$\times$3 mm$^{2}$ pixels, for a total of more than 300k readout channels. This will be the first...
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is one of the leading methodologies in medical imaging for cancer diagnosis, but PET scanners present some limitations in terms of cost and performance. In recent years, Time-of-Flight PET (ToF-PET) significantly improved image reconstruction by adding to the energy used in standard PET machines, the time of arrival information of the two $511\:keV$...
In this talk an overview of the advantage of silicon carbide detectors will be presented in terms of leakage current, signal resolution and radiation hardness. To obtain high performance in the detectors for different applications, new growth process of the epitaxial layers have been developed and the characteristics of the epitaxial layers have been obtained by electrical measurements....
Silicon Carbide (SiC) detectors are gaining renewed research interest alongside the material's growing adoption in power electronics. The physical properties relevant to power electronics are also advantageous for detector applications, and SiC timing detectors could replace silicon detectors in the future. One limitation of SiC, however, is the currently limited epitaxial thickness that can...
The main challenge in radiotherapy (RT) is to deliver a sufficiently high curative dose to the tumour while maintaining tolerable doses to nearby organs at risk, and new treatment modalities are rapidly emerging. FLASH radiotherapy delivers a therapeutic dose several orders of magnitude faster (≥ 40 Gy/s) than conventional RT (0.05 Gy/s) and has been shown to reduce the likelihood of...
Many technologies initially developed for particle physics are now employed in medical particle beam therapy. One area where technology transfer is more challenging is particle sensing, as requirements differ substantially. While particle physics requires detecting and characterizing every particle hitting the detector, only the beam's statistical properties are important in ion beam therapy....
Pristine and neutron-irradiated silicon carbide (SiC) detectors were systematically characterized using the Two-Photon Absorption Transient Current Technique (TPA-TCT) at the laser facility of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). The investigated SiC detectors are p-in-n diodes, fabricated at IMB-CNM, with an active thickness of 50 microns.
Our study reveals a radiation-induced...
Silicon microstrip (Si-µstrip) sensors are employed in most of current space detector tracking systems for charged cosmic-rays, such as the DAMPE satellite detector or the AMS-02 detector onboard the ISS. As they allow for large-area coverage with contained electronic channels and power consumptions, they are ideal sensors for high-energy physics applications in space-borne instrumentation,...
Charge identification is a challenging task in space-based cosmic-ray (CR) experiments. This is due to the wide dynamic range required to identify CR elements, including heavy nuclei. Additionally, back-scattered radiation from the calorimeter degrades the charge resolution when it hits the same detector element traversed by the cosmic ray, hindering a correct identification of the cosmic...
Low Gain Avalanche Diodes (LGADs) are silicon detectors that use the impact ionization process to achieve gain values of about O(10) and timing resolution of 30 ps for Minimum Ionizing Particles. In High Energy Physics, the state of the art LGADs used for timing layers have an active thickness of 50 μm and a channel size in the order of O(1 mm2). Space based experiments could benefit from a...
Recent advancements in particle physics demand pixel detectors that can withstand increased energy and luminosity in the future collider experiments. In response, MALTA, a novel monolithic active pixel detector, has been developed with a cutting-edge readout architecture. This new class of monolithic pixel detectors is found to have exceptional radiation tolerance, superior hit rates, higher...
Advancements in 3D interconnecting technologies have significantly contributed to the emergence of a new generation of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM), which we can refer to as hybrid devices. These devices integrate the functionalities of digital SiPMs with the exceptional performance characteristics of specialized custom technologies. In recent years, the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) has...
To fully exploit the increased luminosity of the HL-LHC, the CMS Inner Tracker is undergoing a major upgrade to withstand extreme radiation levels of 1.2 Grad and hit rates of 3.2 GHz/ $cm^{2}$ while maintaining a reduced material budget and improved granularity. The detector modules feature thin 3D and planar silicon pixel sensors with a pixel size of 25x100 µm, bump bonded to a new ASIC,...
The Upstream Tracker is a novel silicon microstrip detector installed during LHCb Upgrade 1. Since its successful commissioning, it has played a significant role in the experiment's new fully-software trigger system. The efficient performance of the UT detector requires constant monitoring and evaluation of the calibration parameters of over half a million sensors. Here, recent results...
Silicon sensors are widely used in high-energy physics due to their low material budget and radiation hardness. However, they are susceptible to surface breakdown, particularly under humid conditions. This study aims to improve the understanding of the underlying mechanisms by developing new methods to probe the electric field at the sensor’s edge. For planar sensors, avalanche breakdown...
It has become apparent that Silicon, though an excellent choice as a sensing material for current particle detectors, suffers greatly when exposed to heavy radiation, degrading properties like charge collection efficiency and increasing noise levels. Future collider experiments will require it to withstand stronger radiation fields. Therefore, either a frequent replacement of detectors, a leap...
Gallium Nitride (GaN) and its alloys with In or Al are widely utilized in the production of light-emitting diodes, lasers, and sensors for chemical, gas, biological, and pressure detection. GaN is also critical for developing radiation-tolerant sensors used in the space industry, medical diagnostics, and high-energy physics applications. Direct-bandgap binary compounds like GaN are effective...
The High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) will increase the integrated luminosity to 3000fb^{-1} and the instantaneous luminosity up to $7.5\times 10^{34} cm^{−2} s^{−1}$ in the ATLAS experiment. This results in an average of 200 proton-proton collisions per bunch-crossing compared to 48 in the current Run-3. This increases radiation damage and device occupancy. To cope...
The ATLAS inner detector will be completely replaced with a new all-silicon tracking detector (ITk) in 2026-28 to cope with the challenging conditions of the High Luminosity LHC.
The pixel detector will be located in the innermost part of the ITk detector. It will be instrumented with 3D sensor technology in the innermost layer (L0), where a fluence up to 2 x 1016 neq/cm2 is expected, and...
Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) are promising devices for high-precision timing and tracking applications in high-energy physics experiments. This study investigates the effects of radiation damage on LGAD performance following exposure to 24 GeV energy protons. The samples made by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. were subjected to varying proton fluences (Φ = 1E12-1E16 p/cm^2), and their gain...
Trench-isolated (TI) LGADs, developed at FBK, are pixelated LGAD implementations where pads are separated by physical trenches etched within the silicon substrate and filled with a dielectric. Developed as an alternative approach to implant-based inter-pad separation (JTEs), this technology promises a dramatic reduction to dead regions, mitigating fill factor issues inherent to small-pitch...
The self-induced signals in trench isolated LGADSs can be driven by the complex interplay of trench-induced defects, electric field distortions, and temperature-dependent carrier dynamics. This self-induced signal phenomenon could be also related to the interplay between the guard ring (GR), trenches, and the n+ bias ring (implanted between two trenches). Such complex relation of many...
Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) are widespread photon detectors in high-energy physics. Their performance degrades significantly when exposed to radiation, particularly high-energy hadrons (neutrons or protons) that induce defects in the silicon lattice. A moderate level of radiation causes damage in SiPMs,...
The release of the Timepix4 [1] readout chip has opened new possibilities for the utilization of pixel detectors in experimental applications. With its exceptional time resolution (binning approximately 200 ps), larger detection area (512x448 pixels), and extremely high maximum data rate (160 Gbps), it is evident that the scientific community has gained a powerful new tool.
In this...
The Far Detector (FD) of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will feature a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) in which the scintillation light will be detected by Silicon Photomultipliers suited for cryogenic applications. Driven by the requirements of the DarkSide experiment, FBK has developed a SiPM technology for cryogenic applications (NUV-HD-Cryo SiPM) featuring a...
The Katherine readout for Timepix3 [6] is among the most widely used acquisition systems for Timepix3 detectors. This device, which utilizes a Gigabit Ethernet interface, has been employed in numerous experiments by various scientific teams. However, as user requirements have evolved, it has become clear that Katherine cannot meet these increasing demands without limitations or additional...
In the new era of HL-LHC experiments, fast-timing detectors are emerging as a critical priority.
Typical requirements include a temporal hit resolution of 50 ps with a fine pitch of 50 µm, maintaining high spatial resolution and radiation hardness. These specifications are essential for track separation in high pile-up environments. To address these challenges, the development of...
Nearly all future high-energy particle detectors will employ large areas of radiation hard silicon sensors as their main tracking detectors, facilitating the need for cost-efficient, reliable and large scale production. A promising avenue of research are sensors based on the CMOS imaging process.
Three variations of passive CMOS strip sensors have been designed by the University of Bonn...
The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) operation will push the CMS experiment to its limits, with an instantaneous peak luminosity of $7.5 \times 10^{34} \, \text{cm}^{-2}\text{s}^{-1}$ and an integrated luminosity of $300 \, \text{fb}^{-1}$ per year. This environment will expose the CMS Inner Tracker (IT) Pixel Detector at the center of CMS to unprecedented radiation, with a 1 MeV...
The excellent time resolution of LGAD and thin PIN silicon sensors allows for the measurement of the particle flux and profile of clinical beams with single particle sensitivity. The experimental results of a proton and carbon ion counter based on a 2.7 × 2.7 cm2 silicon sensor will be presented. The counter was also integrated with a Time-to-Digital Converter to measure particles’ crossing...
The next generation of silicon pixel detectors at high energy physics experiments sets unprecedented and extreme requirements to the microelectronic systems that are used to read out the sensors. Front-end integrated circuits will have to provide advanced analog and digital signal processing functions in high-density pixel readout cells, while handling huge data rates, operating at low power...
The ALICE experiment underwent significant upgrades during the LHC Long Shutdown 2 (2019–2021), including the installation of the new Inner Tracking System (ITS2). ITS2 comprises seven layers with 12.5 billion pixels spanning 10 m², based on the ALPIDE CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS), which offer an intrinsic spatial resolution of approximately 5 µm. Designed to handle Pb-Pb...
During the High Luminosity programme of the LHC collider (called HL-LHC), planned to start in 2030, the instantaneous luminosity will be increased from $\sim 2 \times 10^{34} cm^{-2}s^{-1}$ to an unprecedented figure of about $\sim 7.5 \times 10^{34} cm^{-2}s^{-1}$. This will allow the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) to collect up to $\sim 4000 fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity over a...
The ATLAS inner detector will be completely replaced with a new all-silicon tracking detector
(ITk) in 2026-28 to cope with the challenging conditions of the High Luminosity LHC.
The pixel detector will be located in the innermost part of the ITk detector. It will be
instrumented with 3D sensor technology it the innermost layer (L0), where a fluence up to 2
x 1016 neq/cm2 is expected, and...
Pixel modules are currently being built for the ATLAS ITk Pixel detector upgrade.
Since the preproduction phase, recurring chip malfunctioning was observed during electrical testing, that was bypassed by disabling some pixel core columns in the ITkPix readout chip.
This issue is therefore called the "core column issue" which is a direct disqualifier for a pixel module.
A concerning number...
The LHC is about to enter the High Luminosity phase (HL-LHC) with a luminosity of 5-7.5×10^(34) cm^(-2)s^(-1) and a center-of-mass energy of 14 TeV. This phase will significantly increase the available data and impose tougher conditions on the detectors. To meet these new challenges, the CMS outer tracker will be updated with the new 2S and PS modules. Each module consists of a pair of silicon...
The Tangerine project focuses on the development of advanced sensor prototypes for silicon vertex detectors to be used in future lepton collider experiments. These detectors face stringent requirements, including excellent position resolution below 3um, minimal material budget with thicknesses below 50um, low power consumption of lower than 50mW/cm2, and time resolution on the nanosecond...
The Belle II experiment currently records data at the SuperKEKB e+e- collider, which holds the world luminosity record of 4.7x10^34 cm-2 s-1 and plans to push up to 6x10^35 cm-2 s-1. In such luminosity range for e+e- collisions, the inner detection layers should both cope with a hit rate dominated by beam-induced parasitic particles and provide minute tracking precision. A research and...
Monolithic CMOS silicon sensors represent an important innovation for high-energy physics experiments due to their cheaper production and assembly cost compared to hybrid ones. Indeed, in hybrid devices, the electronics and the sensor are produced on different silicon substrates, which must be later connected using bonding techniques. However, as far as the time resolution is concerned, the...
The MALTA monolithic active pixel detector has been developed to meet the stringent demands of future high-energy physics experiments. To assess its capabilities, we performed fast-timing studies to define a figure of merit for this family of detectors. Conventional laser techniques are hindered by reflections from the sensor's metal layers, which restrict material penetration. We developed a...
The CMS and ATLAS detectors at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are undergoing significant upgrades to meet the challenges posed by the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). The CMS detector is implementing an upgrade program that includes a new MIP Timing Detector (MTD) with a time resolution of approximately 30-40 ps, aimed at mitigating the effects of high pileup levels expected at HL-LHC. The...
In recent years, the HEP detector community has shown an increasing interest in LGAD sensors due to their excellent temporal resolution, good radiation resistance, and low material budget. A great example of this is the upcoming CMS Endcap Timing Layer (ETL), a subdetector which will feature four disks (14 m2) covered with these devices.
In this context, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), one...
Precise time tagging of particles become a pivotal ingredient in designing high-energy physics experiments. Low-Gain Avalanche Diodes (LGADs) with an active thickness of $\sim$ 50 $\mu$m have proved the ability of silicon sensors to provide precise timing down to about 30 ps. Such timing performance is maintained almost unchanged up to a fluence of 2.5$\cdot$10$^{15}$ 1 MeV equivalent...
The AC-LGAD technology is chosen to be used as the time of flight detector and out track for the Circular electron-positron collider (CEPC). As suggested by the CEPC board, the time of flight is urgent for the flavor physics in CEPC, especially for the k/p and k/pi separation in the low-energy part. The AC-LGAD based ToF & out tracker would be located between the TPC and ECAL which would cover...
Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) are crucial for high-energy physics applications, especially in the harsh radiation environments of future colliders. This abstract introduces LGADs enhanced with deep carbon implantation, emphasizing their superior radiation tolerance.
LGADs achieve high temporal resolution and precise spatial measurements through an internal gain mechanism and fine...
DC-RSDs are silicon sensors that aim to provide a time resolution for minimum ionizing particles in the order of 30 ps and a spatial resolution of a few percent of the channel pitch. These performances are enabled by internal charge multiplication and resistive charge division between the channels. The time resolution is expected to be the same as Low Gain Avalanche Diodes (LGADs). The...
We are investigating the use of low temperature wafer-wafer bonding in the fabrication of next-generation particle pixel detectors. This bonding technique could enable the integration of fully processed CMOS readout wafers with high-Z absorber materials, facilitating the creation of highly efficient X-ray imaging detectors. It might also facilitate the integration of structures embedded inside...
Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) offer exceptional photon detection sensitivity, but face challenges in maintaining linearity across their operational range. At low light levels, the primary effect is the non-linearity of gain resulting from the voltage dependence of pixel capacitance. At high light intensities, the finite pixel count leads to non-linear response, limiting the dynamic...
To exploit the full potential of the physics at the Future Higgs, Top and Electroweak
factories extremely lightweight and precise vertex detectors are needed, especially
to precisely reconstruct the decay and interaction vertices in flavour physics
processes and the measurement of Higgs and Z decays to bottom and charm quarks
and tau-leptons.
I will discuss the requirements of those...
We present an innovative charge detector with high resolution and wide dynamic range designed to fulfill the requirements of a monitoring system for a high energy ion beam. The detector prototype, constructed using Si planar diodes and a custom readout electronics, underwent extensive testing during HERD and AMS beam tests at CERN SPS facilities. Initial testing showcased the detector's...
The DarkSide-20k experiment, currently under construction at the Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS), represents a significant advancement in the field of direct Dark Matter (DM) detection. Utilizing a liquid argon dual-phase time projection chamber (LArTPC) with a 20-tonne fiducial mass, DarkSide-20k is designed to extend the sensitivity limits in the search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles...
This talk will present the performance of the CMS experiment pixel detector during the LHC Run 3. Hit detection efficiency, collected charge and hit resolution will be presented as determined at the end of 2024 and as a function of the integrated luminosity delivered by the accelerator. Other important results, such as the Lorentz Angle determination, will be presented together with the high...
A Muon Collider with the centre-of-mass energy of 10 TeV is actively studied as a successor of the LHC thanks to its unique combination of high energy reach, clean final state and low environmental footprint. Very low level of synchrotron radiation allows to accelerate muons to multi-TeV energies in a compact ring with minimal energy losses, allowing to reach the discovery potential of the...
Future frontier accelerators envisage the use of silicon sensors in
environments with fluences exceeding $1\times10^{17}$ 1-MeV $n_{eq}/cm^2$. Presently available silicon sensors can operate efficiently up to fluences of the order of some $10^{16}$ 1-MeV $n_{eq}/cm^2$. Therefore, novel sensors and readout electronics must be devised.
Within this framework, state-of-the-art Technology CAD...
We report on the characterization of 3D columnar-electrode sensors featuring 55 μm-pitch square and hexagonal pixel cells, evaluated with the Two-Photon Absorption Transient Current Technique (TPA-TCT) using the SSD laser facility at CERN. These sensors, manufactured at IMB-CNM, are double-sided n-in-p diodes with a thickness of 285 μm. The study provides detailed maps of the electric field...
We present the 3D scans of the latest 3D columnar silicon sensor technology, manufactured at the CNM-IBM (RD50 Common project). Double Sided Double Type Technology is studied. Hexagon structures ( 5x5 array of 3D Si cells) are compared to Quadratic structures (10x10 array of 3D Si cells). Timing study is performed using TCT set up at ELI (both SPA where we exploited two wavelengths and TPA...
SINTEF MiNaLab is currently producing part of the 3D pixel sensors for the ATLAS ITk upgrade. Given the number of sensors requested and the complexity of the technology, the production has been split into two 24-wafer batches (Run-7 and Run-8). The two batches have been carefully scheduled to avoid conflicts in the clean room. Both batches use the common sensor layout for RD53B sensors in...
The High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) will demand the ATLAS detector to face an increased instantaneous luminosity up to $7.5\times 10^{34} cm^{−2} s^{−1}$ and an average of 200 proton-proton collisions per bunch-crossing. To cope with this challenge, the present ATLAS Inner Detector will be completely replaced with a new silicon-based Inner Tracker (ITk), made of a...
Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) can operate in single particle counting mode directly in proton beams. These detectors are radiation hard, allowing operation under therapeutic beam fluences for extended periods. With timing resolution below 50 ps, LGADs can provide precise timing measurements of individual particles. This study examines the use of LGADs as particle counters for beam...
Low Gain Avalanche Diodes(LGADs) are prime candidates for high resolution timing applications in High Energy Physics, Nuclear science, and other fields. Over the course of their lifetime, these sensors are required to withstand enormous amounts of radiation (> 10$^{15}$ neq/cm$^2$) while maintaining acceptable performances at hadron colliders. Particles interacting with highly biased sensors...
The response of Low Gain Avalanche Diodes (LGADs), a type of thin silicon detector with internal gain, to X-rays of energies between 6-16 keV was characterized at the SLAC light source (SSRL). The utilized beamline at SSRL was 7-2, with a nominal beam size of 30 μm, repetition rate of 500 MHz, and with an energy dispersion ∆E/E of 10−4. Multi-channel LGADs, AC-LGADs, and TI-LGADs of different...
Low Gain Avalanche Diodes (LGADs) are ultra-fast silicon detectors that allow the simultaneous measurement of an ion’s position and time-of-arrival with a precision better than 100µm and 100ps, respectively. This excellent 4D-tracking capability enables the reconstruction of single-particle tracks even in high-luminosity environments, such as those encountered in high-energy physics...
This contribution presents the test beam characterization of the first DC-RSD production at FBK.
DC-RSDs are an evolution of the AC-coupled RSD sensors, commonly called AC-LGAD. The DC-RSD design is characterized by the direct contact of the metal electrode with the n+ resistive layer and by the presence of trenches to avoid uncontrolled signal sharing among pixels.
Sensors with three...
Recent advantages in detector production have facilitated the manufacture of pixelated 4H-SiC detectors, which can be an alternative to silicon ones especially in the harsh radiation environment, or in the environment with high temperatures, where such sensors profit from their higher band gap. Moreover, thanks to an elastic scattering cross-section of carbon for fast neutrons the SiC sensors...
