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Description
In the field of applied nuclear physics the FOOT (FragmentatiOn Of Target) experiment has a relevant role in both medical physics, with oncological treatments based on Hadrontherapy, and Radiation Protection in Space (RPS). It aims to measure double differential cross-sections of nuclear fragmentation processes as a function of the emission angle and the kinetic energy of the fragments, with a precision better than 5$\%$.
FOOT works with two different setups, the Emulsion Spectrometer, with an angular acceptance around the beam axis bigger than 70° in order to detect fragments with Z $\leq$ 3, and the Magnetic Spectrometer, with 10° angular acceptance in order to detect fragments with Z $\geq$ 2.
One of the detectors involved in the magnetic spectrometer is the Microstrip Silicon Detector (MSD). The MSD provides fragment tracking together with the Vertex and Inner Tracker detectors, enabling momentum reconstruction, and it also measures the fragments' energy loss for Z identification (Zid), which can be matched to the ToF Wall Zid.
The MSD detector, consists of three planes spaced by $\sim$ 2 cm along the beam direction (positive Z-axis) and each plane is built from two orthogonal single‑sided silicon sensors for X–Y hit reconstruction. Each sensor has an active area of $\sim$ 10 x 10 cm$^2$, a thickness of 150 $\mu$m, and for each one 640 strips are read by ten IDE1140 ASIC chips.
The response of the sensors to ionizing radiation has been characterized through several data‑taking campaigns and in particular this work presents the results obtained in 2024 and 2025 at the CNAO (National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy) in Pavia using proton and carbon‑ion beams.\The study shows that the detection efficiency of the single sensor exceeds 95$\%$ for minimum‑ionizing particles, and that the measured spatial resolution is consistent with the expected theoretical performance.