Radiation hardness is an important requirement for solid state readout
devices operating in high radiation environments common in particle physics
experiments. The MEGII experiment, at PSI, Switzerland, investigates the
forbidden decay $\mu^+ \to \mathrm{e}^+ \gamma$. Exploiting the most intense
muon beam of the world. A significant flux of non-thermal neutrons (kinetic
energy $E_k\geq 0.5 ~MeV$) is present in the experimental hall produced along
the beamline and in the hall itself. We present the effects of neutron fluxes
comparable to the MEGII expected doses on several Silicon PhotoMulitpliers
(SiPMs). The tested models are: AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P50 (used in MEGII
experiment), AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P40, AdvanSiD ASD-RGB3S-P40, Hamamatsu and
Excelitas C30742-33-050-X. The neutron source is the thermal Sub-critical
Multiplication complex (SM1) moderated with water, located at the University of
Pavia (Italy). We report the change of SiPMs most important electric
parameters: dark current, dark pulse frequency, gain, direct bias resistance,
as a function of the integrated neutron fluency.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings from Instrumentation for colliding
  Beam Physics (INSTR-17) 27-02-2017/03-03-2017 Novosibirsk (R

Cattaneo, P. W.

Cervi, T.

Menegolli, A.

Oddone, M.

Prata, M.

Prata, M. C.

Rossella, M.

Journal of Instrumentation

English

arXiv

Radiation hardness is an important requirement for solid state readout
devices operating in high radiation environments common in particle physics
experiments. The MEGII experiment, at PSI, Switzerland, investigates the
forbidden decay $\mu^+ \to \mathrme^+ \gamma$. Exploiting the most intense
muon beam of the world. A significant flux of non-thermal neutrons (kinetic
energy $E_k\geq 0.5 ~MeV$) is present in the experimental hall produced along
the beamline and in the hall itself. We present the effects of neutron fluxes
comparable to the MEGII expected doses on several Silicon PhotoMulitpliers
(SiPMs). The tested models are: AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P50 (used in MEGII
experiment), AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P40, AdvanSiD ASD-RGB3S-P40, Hamamatsu and
Excelitas C30742-33-050-X. The neutron source is the thermal Sub-critical
Multiplication complex (SM1) moderated with water, located at the University of
Pavia (Italy). We report the change of SiPMs most important electric
parameters: dark current, dark pulse frequency, gain, direct bias resistance,
as a function of the integrated neutron fluency

MENEGOLLI, ALESSANDRO

ODDONE, MASSIMO

PRATA, MICHELE

Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi di Pavia

2017 JINST 12 C07012Published by IOP Publishing for Sissa MedialabReceived: May 26, 2017Accepted: June 26, 2017Published: July 6, 2017International Conference on Instrumentation for Colliding Beam PhysicsBudker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk, Russia27 February – 3 March 2017Radiation Hardness tests with neutron flux on differentSilicon photomultiplier devicesP.W. Cattaneo,a,1 T. Cervi,a,b A. Menegolli,a,b M. Oddone,c M. Prata,d M.C. Prata,aand M. RossellaaaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) - Sezione di Pavia,Via Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia, ItalybUniversità degli Studi di Pavia - Dipartimento di Fisica,Via Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia, ItalycUniversità degli Studi di Pavia - Dipartimento di Chimica,Viale Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, ItalydUniversità degli Studi di Pavia - Laboratorio Energia Nucleare Applicata,Via Aselli 41, 27100 Pavia, ItalyE-mail: Paolo.Cattaneo@pv.infn.itAbstract: Radiation hardness is an important requirement for solid state readout devices operatingin high radiation environments common in particle physics experiments. The MEG II experiment,at PSI, Switzerland, investigates the forbidden decay µ+ → e+γ. Exploiting the most intense muonbeam of the world. A significant flux of non-thermal neutrons (kinetic energy Ek ≥ 0.5MeV) ispresent in the experimental hall produced along the beam-line and in the hall itself. We present theeffects of neutron fluxes comparable to theMEG II expected doses on several Silicon Photomultiplier(SiPMs). The tested models are: AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P50 (used in MEG II experiment),AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P40, AdvanSiD ASD-RGB3S-P40, Hamamatsu and Excelitas C30742-33-050-X. The neutron source is the thermal Sub-critical Multiplication complex (SM1) moderatedwith water, located at the University of Pavia (Italy). We report the change of SiPMsmost importantelectric parameters: dark current, dark pulse frequency, gain, direct bias resistance, as a functionof the integrated neutron fluency.Keywords: Photon detectors for UV, visible and IR photons (solid-state) (PIN diodes, APDs,Si-PMTs, G-APDs, CCDs, EBCCDs, EMCCDs etc); Radiation damage to detector materials (solidstate); Instrumentation for neutron sourcesArXiv ePrint: 1705.087861Corresponding author.c© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/12/07/C070122017 JINST 12 C07012Contents1 The MEG experiment and the MEG II upgrade 12 Radiation hardness tests with neutron flux 22.1 Tested SiPM models 22.2 The SM1 facility 23 Results 43.1 I-V curve, breakdown voltage and quenching resistance 43.2 Noise evaluation 64 Conclusions 61 The MEG experiment and the MEG II upgradeThe MEG experiment [1] has been operational in the years 2008-2013 at the Paul Scherrer Institute(Villigen, CH), looking for the lepton flavor violating decay µ+ → e+ + γ. This process ishighly suppressed in the Standard Model (SM) (branching ratio BR < 5 × 10−50). Nevertheless, ameasurable branching ratio is anticipated by many SM extensions [3–5].Detection of such a decay would be an unambiguous signal of physics beyond the SM, whileimproving its upper limit would constraint new theories. The kinematics of the signal consists in thetwo-body decay of a particle at rest: a positron and a photon with the same energies (52.8MeV, halfof the muon mass) emitted in time coincidence with opposite directions. A precise measurementof the positron timing with a Timing Counter (TC) is crucial to discriminate between signal andcombinatorial background from separate muon decays. In MEG the Timing Counter consisted oftwo sets of scintillator bars read-out by photomultipliers [6].The MEG II experiment is a project for upgrading MEG and improve its sensitivity of anadditional order of magnitude [2]. In MEG II the role of the TC is taken by a pixelated TimingCounter (pTC) [7, 8]. It consists of two arrays of thin scintillator plates readout by SiPMs locatedsymmetrically to the decay target. A large number of SiPMs (6144) are employed to read outthe scintillating light from plastic scintillator pixels designed to measure the time of arrival ofpositrons. In MEG II we expect a flux of non-thermal neutron of ∼ 108 n cm−2 during the lifetimeof the experiment due mainly to production along the beam with a kinetic energy distributedat Ek > 0.5MeV. Those neutrons can damage the semiconductor devices located inside theexperimental area.– 1 –2017 JINST 12 C070122 Radiation hardness tests with neutron flux2.1 Tested SiPM modelsWe irradiated different SiPM models: the AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P50 (used in MEG II experi-ment), the AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P40 and ASD-RGB3S-P40, the Hamamatsu S12572-050P andthe Excelitas C30742-33-050-X. The characteristics of those devices are summarised in table 1.Table 1. Characteristics of SiPMs under test.ASD-NUV3S ASD-NUV3S ASD-RGB3S S12572 C30742-P50 -P40 -P40 -050P -33-050-XActive Area 3 × 3 mm2 3 × 3 mm2 3 × 3 mm2 3 × 3 mm2 3 × 3 mm2Pixel size 50 µm 40 µm 40 µm 50 µm 50 µmNumber of Pixels 3600 5200 5200 3600 3600Fill Factor 60% 60% 62%Dark Counts 1200 kcps(1) 900 kcps 1800 kcps 1000 kcps 1350 kcpsV (2)bd 24 ± 2V 24 ± 2V 25 ± 2V 65 ± 10V 95VBVTC(3) 26 mV/◦C 26 mV/◦C 26 mV/◦C 60 mV/◦C 90 mV/◦Cλ(4)p 420 nm 420 nm 550 nm 450 nm 520 nm(1). kcps = kilo counts per seconds.(2). Vbd = Breakdown Voltage.(3). BVTC = Breakdown Voltage Temperature Coefficient.(4). λP = Peak sensitivity wavelength.2.2 The SM1 facilitySM1 is a thermal Sub-critical Multiplication complex moderated with water located at the Depart-ment of Chemistry, University of Pavia (Italy) that is readily available for irradiation purposes [9].The fuel is natural uranium in metallic form arranged in 206 Aluminum-clad fuel elements with aninner diameter of 2.8 cm and a length of 132 cm (see figure 1).Fuel elements are assembled in a hexagonal prism geometrical configuration with a radialdimension of 114 cm and a height of 135 cm (see figure 2). Located at the centre of the SM1 core,a Pu-Be neutron source has an emission rate equal to 8.9 × 106 s−1 over the full solid angle [12].Two channels are readily available for irradiation, in this paper we always use Channel A (Ring 2).The neutron spectra expected from Monte Carlo simulations in different configurations, thermaland fast, at channel A are shown in figure 3 compared with the experimental data processed withthe SAND II code [13]. The SAND II code is able to obtain neutron energy spectra by an analysisof experimental activation detector data.The expected integrated neutron fluxes at position A in the thermal configuration, used in theirradiation, is (5.9 ± 0.2) × 104 n cm−2s−1 (including slow and fast neutrons). In order to suppressthe low energy neutrons below 0.5 eV, the devices were inserted in a Cd box 0.55mm thick. Weevaluated that, at position A, the neutron flux inside the box is ∼ 4 × 104 n cm−2s−1. Therefore theirradiation time required to deliver the total fluence expected in MEG II is ∼ (3–5) × 103 s.– 2 –2017 JINST 12 C07012Figure 1. SM1 — thermal Sub-critical Multiplication system.Figure 2. Fuel elements placement in SM1.– 3 –2017 JINST 12 C07012Figure 3. Comparison between the neutron flux spectrum obtained with MCNP ® (Monte Carlo N-Particle) [11] simulations (circles) and experimental data processed with the SAND II code (crosses) for theirradiation channel A.The irradiation consists in a controlled exposition to the neutron flux for several seconds/minutesat the SM1 facility. All measurements on SiPMs have been done at fixed temperature of 30◦C.Every 1000 s of irradiation (integrated dose ∼ 4 × 107 n cm−2), each device has been characterisedin term of I-V curve, breakdown voltage, noise. We have repeated this procedure several times upto a total exposition of 1× 104 s (integrated dose ∼ 4× 108 n cm−2). In the following, we report thedirectly measured irradiation time rather than the dose deduced by simulation.3 Results3.1 I-V curve, breakdown voltage and quenching resistanceThe I-V curves have been measured using a Keithley Picoammeter/Voltage Source 6487 connectedto a PC with an USB-GPIB converter (National Instruments model GPIB-USB-HS) and controlledwith a Labview program. Each device under test has been kept at constant temperature (30◦C),regulated by a Gefran Temperature Controller (model 1200).We recorded the I-V curves for all the devices before and shortly after each irradiation. Deviceswere irradiated once per day and measured two hours after the irradiation to allow for the decay ofmetastable nuclei. In a few cases measurements were performed from few minutes to several hoursafter the irradiation to evaluate the contribution from metastable nuclei but no effect was detected.For all devices the dark currents increase as the integrated doses increase. For example in figure 4, theI-V curves for various neutron doses forHamamatsu andAdvanSiDASD-NUV3Smodels are shown.The breakdown voltage is calculated with the Inverse Logarithmic Derivative (ILD) methoddefined with the following algorithm [10]:1. we record the inverse I-V curve from 0V with steps of 0.05V until the current reaches 20 µA;2. we calculate the logarithm of the curve;3. we calculate the second derivative;4. we define as breakdown voltage the maximum of the second derivative.– 4 –2017 JINST 12 C07012Figure 4. I-V curves of AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P40 (top left), Hamamatsu S12572-050P (top right) andAdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P50 (bottom) models after each irradiation.For all the device under tests, the irradiation doses don’t affect the breakdown voltages, as shown infigure 5 (left).Also the quenching resistance of all devices is insensitive to the neutron dose (figure 5 right).Possible effects of annealing have not been studied systematically. The plan for the next futureis to monitor constantly the SiPM operation.Figure 5. Breakdown voltage (left) and quenching resistance (right) as a function of irradiation time(rgb: AdvanSiD ASDRGB3S-P50, nuv: ASD-NUV3S-P40, hpk: Hamamatsu S12572-050P, exc: ExcelitasC30742-33-050-X) .– 5 –2017 JINST 12 C070123.2 Noise evaluationTo evaluate the contribution of irradiation to the dark noise, we recorded at fixed over-voltage VOVthe current as a function of the different doses. In figure 6 the curves at VOV = 1V, VOV = 2Vand VOV = 3V for AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P50, AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P40, AdvanSiD ASD-RGB3S-P40 and Hamamatsu models are shown. For these devices the trend of the current is linearwith respect the neutron dose for each value of over-voltage.Figure 6. Current at fixed over-voltage VOV as a function of the dose.4 ConclusionsSiPMs have been irradiated with neutrons at doses comparable or larger to those expected duringthe data taking for the MEG II experiment to estimate the neutron induced radiation damage ontheir functionality. We tested the SiPM model to be used in MEG II (AdvanSiD ASD-NUV-P50), the most recent AdvanSiD devices (ASD-NUV3S-P40 and ASD-RGB3S-P40), a Hamamatsu(s12752-050P) and an Excelitas (C30742-33-050-X) with similar characteristics.The most relevant effect of irradiation is the increase in dark current above the breakdownvoltage. The measurements show a gradual increase. For all SiPM models, the increase of thecurrent is proportional to the integrated doses, although in the case of the Excelitas model, becauseof technical and mechanical problems, we were not able to measure the current with sufficientprecision.– 6 –2017 JINST 12 C07012When considering the irradiation time delivering a fluence comparable to the total fluenceexpected in MEG II (3− 5) × 103 s, the main effect on the SiPM employed in MEGG II (AdvanSiDASD-NUV-P50), as visible in figure 6 in the bottom, right panel, is an increase in dark currentat VOV = 3V up to ∼ 5 µA. This increase is not expected to influence significantly the timingresolution of the devices during the experiment.References[1] J. Adam et al., The MEG detector for µ+ → e+γ decay search, Eur. Phys. J. C 73 (2013) 2365[arXiv:1303.2348].[2] A.M. Baldini et al.,MEG Upgrade Proposal, arXiv:1301.7225.[3] R. Barbieri, L.J. Hall and A. Strumia, Violations of lepton flavor and CP in supersymmetric unifiedtheories, Nucl. Phys. B 445 (1995) 219 [hep-ph/9501334].[4] J. Hisano, K. Kurosawa and Y. Nomura, Large squark and slepton masses for the first two generationsin the anomalous U(1) SUSY breaking models, Phys. Lett. B 445 (1999) 316 [hep-ph/9810411].[5] L. Calibbi, A. Faccia, A. Masiero and S.K. Vempati, Lepton flavour violation from SUSY-GUTs:Where do we stand for MEG, PRISM/PRIME and a super flavour factory, Phys. Rev. D 74 (2006)116002 [hep-ph/0605139].[6] M. De Gerone et al., Development and commissioning of the Timing Counter for the MEGExperiment, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 59 (2012) 379, arXiv:1112.0110.[7] M. De Gerone, F. Gatti, W. Ootani, Y. Uchiyama, M. Nishimura, S. Shirabe et al., Design and test ofan extremely high resolution Timing Counterfor the MEG II experiment: preliminary results, 2014JINST 9 C02035 [arXiv:1312.0871].[8] M. De Gerone et al., A high resolution Timing Counter for the MEG II experiment, Nucl. Instrum.Meth. A 824 (2016) 92.[9] D. Alloni et al., Neutron flux characterization of the SM1 sub-critical multiplying complex of thePavia University, Prog. Nucl. Energ. 67 (2013) 98.[10] V. Chmill, E. Garutti, R. Klanner, M. Nitschke and J. Schwandt, Study of the breakdown voltage ofSiPMs, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 845 (2017) 56 [arXiv:1605.01692].[11] https://mcnp.lanl.gov/.[12] M.E. Anderson and W.H. Bond Jr., Neutron spectrum of a plutonium-beryllium source, Nucl. Phys. 43(1963) 330.[13] http://www.rist.or.jp/rsicc/app/sand_2.htm.– 7 –

Radiation Hardness tests with neutron flux on different Silicon
  photomultiplier devices

Radiation hardness is an important requirement for solid state readout devices operating in high radiation environments common in particle physics experiments. The MEGII experiment, at PSI, Switzerland, investigates the forbidden decay μ+ → e+γ. Exploiting the most intense muon beam of the world. A significant flux of non-thermal neutrons (kinetic energy Ek ≥ 0.5 MeV ) is present in the experimental hall produced along the beamline and in the hall itself. We present the effects of neutron fluxes comparable to the MEGII expected doses on several Silicon PhotoMulit- pliers (SiPMs). The tested models are: AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P50 (used in MEGII experiment), AdvanSiD ASD-NUV3S-P40, AdvanSiD ASD-RGB3S-P40, Hamamatsu and Excelitas C30742- 33-050-X. The neutron source is the thermal Sub-critical Multiplication complex (SM1) moderated with water, located at the University of Pavia (Italy). We report the change of SiPMs most important electric parameters: dark current, dark pulse frequency, gain, direct bias resistance, as a function of the integrated neutron fluency

Prata, c. M.

CERVI, TOMMASO

Radiation Hardness tests with neutron flux on different Silicon photomultiplier devices

P.W. Cattaneo

T. Cervi

A. Menegolli

M. Oddone

M. Prata

M.C. Prata

M. Rossella

Crossref

Radiation Hardness tests with neutron flux on different Silicon
  photomultiplier devices

Radiation Hardness tests with neutron flux on different Silicon photomultiplier devices

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Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi di Pavia

Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi di Pavia

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