A review of advances in pixel detectors for experiments with high rate and radiation

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments ATLAS and CMS have established hybrid pixel detectors as the instrument of choice for particle tracking and vertexing in high rate and radiation environments, as they operate close to the LHC interaction points. With the High Luminosity-LHC upgrade now in sight, for which the tracking detectors will be completely replaced, new generations of pixel detectors are being devised. They have to address enormous challenges in terms of data throughput and radiation levels, ionizing and non-ionizing, that harm the sensing and readout parts of pixel detectors alike. Advances in microelectronics and microprocessing technologies now enable large scale detector designs with unprecedented performance in measurement precision (space and time), radiation hard sensors and readout chips, hybridization techniques, lightweight supports, and fully monolithic approaches to meet these challenges. This paper reviews the world-wide effort on these developments.Comment: 84 pages with 46 figures. Review article.For submission to Rep. Prog. Phy

High Aspect-ratio Biomimetic Hair-like Microstructure Arrays for MEMS Multi-Transducer Platform

Many emerging applications of sensing microsystems in health care, environment, security and transportation systems require improved sensitivity and selectivity, redundancy, robustness, increased dynamic range, as well as small size, low power and low cost. Providing all of these features in a system consisting of one sensor is not practical or possible. Micro electro mechanical microsystems (MEMS) that combine a large sensor array with signal processing circuits could provide these features. To build such multi-transducer microsystems we get inspiration from “hair”, a structure frequently used in nature. Hair is a simple yet elegant structure that offers many attractive features such as large length to cross-sectional area ratio, large exposed surface area, ability to include different sensing materials, and ability to interact with surrounding media in sophisticated ways. In this thesis, we have developed a microfabrication technology to build 3D biomimetic hair structures for MEMS multi-transducer platform. Direct integration with CMOS will enable signal processing of dense arrays of 100s or 1000s of MEMS transducers within a small chip area. We have developed a new device structure that mimics biological hair. It includes a vertical spring, a proof-mass atop the spring, and high aspect-ratio narrow electrostatic gaps to adjacent electrodes for sensing and actuation. Based on this structure, we have developed three generations of 3D high aspect-ratio, small-footprint, low-noise accelerometers. Arrays of both high-sensitivity capacitive and threshold accelerometers are designed and tested, and they demonstrate extended full-scale detection range and frequency bandwidth. The first-generation capacitive hair accelerometer arrays are based on Silicon-on-Glass (SOG) process utilizing 500 µm thick silicon, achieving a highest sensor density of ~100 sensors/mm2 connected in parallel. Minimum capacitive gap is 5 μm with device height of 400 μm and spring length of 300 μm. A custom-designed Bosch deep-reactive-etching (DRIE) process is developed to etch ultra-deep (> 500 µm) ultra-high aspect-ratio (UHAR) features (AR > 40) with straight sidewalls and reduced undercut across a wide range of feature sizes. A two-gap dry-release process is developed for the second-generation capacitive hair accelerometers. Due to the large device height at full wafer thickness of 1 mm and UHAR capacitive transduction gaps at 2 µm that extend > 200 µm, the accelerometer achieves sub-µg resolution (< 1µg/√Hz) and high sensitivity (1pF/g/mm2), having an area smaller than any previous precision accelerometers with similar performance. Each sensor chip consists of devices with various design parameter to cover a wide range. Bonding with metal interlayers at < 400 °C allows direct integration of these devices on top of CMOS circuits. The third-generation digital threshold hair accelerometer takes advantage of large aspect-ratio of the hair structure and UHAR DRIE structures to provide low noise (< 600 ng/√Hz per mm2 footprint proof-mass due to small contact area) and low power threshold acceleration detection. 16-element (4-bit) and 32-element (5-bit) arrays of threshold devices (total chip area being < 1 cm2) with evenly-spaced threshold gap dimensions from 1 µm to 4 µm as well as with hair spring cross-sectional area from 102 µm to 302 µm are designed to suit specific g-ranges from < 100 mg to 50 g. This hair sensor and sensor array technology is suited for forming MEMS transducer arrays with circuits, including high performance IMUs as well as miniaturized detectors and actuators that require high temporal and spatial resolution, analogous to high-density CMOS imagers.PHDElectrical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143975/1/yemin_1.pd

Exploration of advanced CMOS technologies for new pixel detector concepts in High Energy Physics

This thesis presents the author’s original concepts for the development of radiation hard monolithic pixel sensors that can replace hybrid pixel sensors in high energy physics experiments. It presents one of the first practical implementations of monolithic pixel sensors that potentially offer performance figures similar to those of the hybrid pixel technology with fewer material and for a fraction of the cost. Various pixel sensor prototypes in different technologies have been designed and manufactured for the first time. Prototypes allowed the characterization of the basic components of active pixel sensors and the evaluation of device parameters. Presented devices show strong indications that monolithic sensors can achieve very high radiation tolerance with parameters similar to the existing hybrid technology. Other application areas like X-ray imaging may also benefit from this development

Characterization and application of 3D silicon microdosimeters

The effect of ionizing radiation on biological matter differs significantly between the various types of radiation. For the same amount of absorbed energy, some forms of radiation are much more effective in inducing biological response than others, having a higher radiation quality. Not only does the radiation quality differ between the particle species, but it also depends on the particles’ energy. Microdosimetry is an experimental and theoretical scientific field where the energy deposition in micrometric volumes is used to quantify the radiation quality. The strength of microdosimetry is that although the underlying physics is complex, the radiation quality is defined in principally simple terms which are quantifiable and measurable and can provide input to radiobiological models. At the heart of the microdosimetry is the detector, or microdosimeter, which is used to measure energy depositions. For 75 years the tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) has been the gold standard for microdosimetry, but over the last two decades silicon detectors have been developed as an alternative. The main objective of this work has been to characterize and test a new generation of silicon microdosimeters with five slightly different designs. Electrical characteristics were measured and the microdosimeters have been tested with several soft photon sources and an Am-241 alpha source. The charge collection efficiency (CCE) was determined by comparing the results to that of a commercial PIN diode for spectroscopy. One of the microdosimeters was investigated in a microbeam with the ion beam induced charge collection (IBICC) technique with C-12 ions, revealing the sensitivity of the different parts of the microdosimeter and produced radiation damage effects. A microdosimeter was also used to measure the energy deposition at all depth of an absorber in a 15 MeV proton beamline used for radiobiological experiments. The results were compared to both a MC simulation and the dose measurements from a commercial ionization chamber (IC). The measurements in the proton beam were conducted to further characterize the microdosimeter and was used as a microdosimetric characterization of the beamline. Since the silicon microdosimeters are not tissue equivalent (TE) the measurements from the 15 MeV beamline were corrected with a novel tissue correction function presented here and compared to a previously used method from literature. The measurements showed that the silicon microdosimeters are fully depleted at 5 V with a dark current of approximately 0.1 nA and capacitance below 80 pF. Photon sources between 8 and 60 keV showed 100% CCE for all microdosimeters. The alpha particles produced spectra with a peak at 1445 keV, which were in line with MC simulation. The spectra also had a very large fraction of events below 100 keV and a low amplitude constant band of events between 100 and 1200 keV not visible in the simulations. The IBICC experiment showed homogeneous charge collection at the centre of the SVs but they had a clear sensitivity gradient at the edges giving rise to lower energy events from the monoenergetic beam. The high LET C-12 microbeam produced surface damage, where charge in the oxide layer made the volume between the SVs sensitive. The effects from the surface damage were reduced effectively by increasing the bias voltage from 5 to 15 V. In the 15 MeV proton beamline, the energy deposition spectra at all depths of the polyamide absorber matched well with the MC simulations apart from a slight shift towards higher energy depositions at the entrance. MC simulations of the proton beam showed that the tissue correction function had a maximum error of 1.1% while previously used methods gave up to 15% error. The comparison with the IC indicated that the tissue corrected microdosimeter reproduced the relative depth dose profile well, although the comparison suffered from slightly different measurement positions with respect to the absorbers. The measured tissue corrected dose-mean lineal energy was between 8 and 35 keV/µm and matched well with simulations of a tissue composed microdosimeter except for a 12% difference at the entrance. An alternative type of microdosimeter is also presented and discussed, where a stack of high granularity pixel sensors can be used to track all the particles entering and generated within the microdosimeter. The specifications from the ALPIDE detector with a 5 µm resolution along the two dimensions of the sensor plane are used in the discussion. 12 µm resolution can be achieved in the depth direction by stacking the sensors densely but would be reduced by inserting tissue equivalent material between the sensors to make the detector more biological relevant. The ALPIDE can coarsely measure the energy deposition in each layer by allowing clusters of pixels to fire when struck by a particle. A design with the current ALPIDE detector should be able track primary particles entering the detector well but would have issues with tracking most of the secondary electrons as they would need at least 50 keV to be separable from the primary particle. Further studies of such a microdosimeter should be conducted through MC simulations to determine the necessary specifications for such a tracking microdosimeter. In summary, the measurements with the microdosimeters agrees well with simulations and can be an alternative to TEPCs. The microdosimeters small size makes them excellent for measurements at various depths in therapeutic beamlines such that the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) can be assessed. The microdosimeters are inexpensive to mass produce and they are easy to operate, this makes them readily available for use in conjunction with research, radiation therapy and radiation protection. The work presented here can support other users of the microdosimeter when planning, measuring and analysing results. This work also aids in the development of new and better microdosimeters.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Detector Technologies for CLIC

The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) is a high-energy high-luminosity linear electron-positron collider under development. It is foreseen to be built and operated in three stages, at centre-of-mass energies of 380 GeV, 1.5 TeV and 3 TeV, respectively. It offers a rich physics program including direct searches as well as the probing of new physics through a broad set of precision measurements of Standard Model processes, particularly in the Higgs-boson and top-quark sectors. The precision required for such measurements and the specific conditions imposed by the beam dimensions and time structure put strict requirements on the detector design and technology. This includes low-mass vertexing and tracking systems with small cells, highly granular imaging calorimeters, as well as a precise hit-time resolution and power-pulsed operation for all subsystems. A conceptual design for the CLIC detector system was published in 2012. Since then, ambitious R&D programmes for silicon vertex and tracking detectors, as well as for calorimeters have been pursued within the CLICdp, CALICE and FCAL collaborations, addressing the challenging detector requirements with innovative technologies. This report introduces the experimental environment and detector requirements at CLIC and reviews the current status and future plans for detector technology R&D.Comment: 152 pages, 116 figures; published as CERN Yellow Report Monograph Vol. 1/2019; corresponding editors: Dominik Dannheim, Katja Kr\"uger, Aharon Levy, Andreas N\"urnberg, Eva Sickin

Gated lateral silicon p-i-n junction photodiodes

Research in silicon photonics has recently seen a significant push to develop complete silicon-based optical components for optical communications. Silicon has shown its potential to overcome the bandwidth limitations of microprocessor interconnect, whereas, the silicon platform has already displayed the benefits of low manufacturing costs and CMOS compatibility. The work on “gated lateral silicon p-i-n junction photodiodes” has demonstrated the silicon potential, to detect optical radiations, compatibility to standard CMOS process flow and tuneable spectral response. The lateral structure of gated p-i-n junction photodiodes contributes to high responsivity to short wavelength radiations in these single and dual gate devices. The final objective of this work was to develop high responsivity, CMOS-compatible silicon photodiodes, where the spectral response can be modulated. The lateral p-i-n junction architecture led to high responsivity values, whereas, the MOS gate structure became the basis for tuneable spectral response. The MOS gate structure, made the devices appear as a transistor to the surrounding circuitry and the gate structure in dual gate devices can be used to modulate the spectral response of the device. Single gate devices showed higher responsivity values and comparatively high blue and ultraviolet (UV) response as compared to conventional photodiodes. Surface depletion region in these devices is utilized by placing a MOS gate structure and by patterning an integrated metal grating to detect polarized light. Single and dual gate devices with two variations were fabricated to characterise the device response. Novel lateral architecture of p-i-n junction photodiodes provides a surface depletion region. It is generally anticipated that photodetectors with surface depletion region might produce higher noise. In these devices the surface depletion region has a lateral continuation of gate dielectric which acts as a passivation layer and thus considerably reduced the noise. Physical device modelling studies were performed to verify the experimentally obtained results, which are provided in the relevant measurement chapters. In these devices the speed of operation is a compromise over the high responsivity, CMOS compatibility and tuneable spectral response

Implementation and Characterisation of Monolithic CMOS Pixel Sensors for the CLIC Vertex and Tracking Detectors

Different CMOS technologies are being considered for the vertex and tracking layers of the detector at the proposed high-energy e$^{+}$e$^{−}$ Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). CMOS processes have been proven to be suitable for building high granularity, large area detector systems with low material budget and low power consumption. An effort is put on implementing detectors capable of performing precise timing measurements. Two Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) for particle detection have been developed in the framework of this thesis, following the specifications of the CLIC vertex and tracking detectors. The process choice was based on a study of the features of each of the different available technologies and an evaluation of their suitability for each application. The CLICpix Capacitively Coupled Pixel Detector (C3PD) is a pixelated detector chip designed to be used in capacitively coupled assemblies with the CLICpix2 readout chip, in the framework of the vertex detector at CLIC. The chip comprises a matrix of 128×128 square pixels with 25 µm pitch. A commercial 180 nm High-Voltage (HV) CMOS process was used for the C3PD design. The charge is collected with a large deep N-well, while each pixel includes a preamplifier placed on top of the collecting electrode. The C3PD chip was produced on wafers with different values for the substrate resistivity (∼ 20, 80, 200 and 1000 Ωcm) and has been extensively tested through laboratory measurements and beam tests. The design details and characterisation results of the C3PD chip will be presented. The CLIC Tracker Detector (CLICTD) is a novel monolithic detector chip developed in the context of the silicon tracker at CLIC. The CLICTD chip combines high density, mixed mode circuits on the same substrate, while it performs a fast time-tagging measurement with 10 ns time bins. The chip is produced in a 180 nm CMOS imaging process with a High-Resistivity (HR) epitaxial layer. A matrix of 16×128 detecting cells, each measuring 300 × 30 µm$^{2}$ , is included. A small N-well is used to collect the charge generated in the sensor volume, while an additional deep N-type implant is used to fully deplete the epitaxial layer. Using a process split, additional wafers are produced with a segmented deep N-type implant, a modification that has been simulated to result in a faster charge collection time. Each detecting cell is segmented into eight front-ends to ensure prompt charge collection in the sensor diodes. A simultaneous 8-bit timing and 5-bit energy measurement is performed in each detecting cell. A detailed description of the CLICTD design will be given, followed by the first measurement results

Radiation hard 3D silicon pixel sensors for use in the ATLAS detector at the HL-LHC

The High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) upgrade requires the planned Inner Tracker (ITk) of the ATLAS detector to tolerate extremely high radiation doses. Specifically, the innermost parts of the pixel system will have to withstand radiation fluences above 1 × 1016 neqcm-2. Novel 3D silicon pixel sensors offer a superior radiation tolerance compared to conventional planar pixel sensors, and are thus excellent candidates for the innermost parts of the ITk. This paper presents studies of 3D pixel sensors with pixel size 50 × 50 μm2 mounted on the RD53A prototype readout chip. Following a description of the design and fabrication steps, Test Beam results are presented for unirradiated as well as heavily irradiated sensors. For particles passing at perpendicular incidence, it is shown that average efficiencies above 96% are reached for sensors exposed to fluences of 1 × 1016 neqcm-2 when biased to 80 V.publishedVersio