Silicon sensors with high time resolution can help particle identification in the International Linear Collider (ILC). We are studying Low Gain Avalanche Diodes (LGADs) as a high timing resolution sensor. As a step to develop LGADs, we are now focusing to characterize Avalanche Photo Diode (APD)s, because the APDs has the same multiplication structure as LGADs. We studied the characteristics of APDs with particles from radioisotopes.
4H-Silicon Carbide, when considered as a material for the fabrication of Low Gain Avalanche Detectors for particle timing and position measurement, offers potential advantages over Silicon. We discuss an ongoing study of this material aimed at the fabrication and test of prototype fast timing sensors. This work is well aligned with technical directions identified in the recent Department of Energy study, Basic Research Needs for High Energy Physics Detector Research and Development.
The next generation of collider experiments require tracking detectors with extreme performance capabilities in terms of spatial resolution (tens of $μ\text{m}$), radiation hardness ($10^{17}~1~$MeV n$_{eq}/$cm$^2$) and timing resolution (tens of ps). 3D silicon sensors, recently developed within the TimeSPOT initiative, offer a viable solution to cope with such demanding requirements. In order to accurately characterize the timing performance of these new sensors, several read-out boards, based on discrete active components, have been designed, assembled, and tested. The same electronics is a…
Single-photon detection is an invaluable tool for many applications ranging from basic research to consumer electronics. In this respect, the Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) plays a key role in enabling a broad diffusion of these techniques thanks to its remarkable performance, room-temperature operation, and scalability. In this paper we present a silicon technology that allows the fabrication of SPAD-arrays with an unprecedented combination of low timing jitter (95 ps FWHM) and high detection efficiency at red and near infrared wavelengths (peak of 70% at 650 nm, 45% at 800 nm). We disc…
Detectors based on pixels with timing capabilities are gaining increasing importance in the last years. Next-to-come high-energy physics experiments at colliders require the use of time information in tracking, due to the expected levels of track densities in the foreseen experimental conditions. A promising solution to gain high-resolution performance at the sensor level is given by so-called 3D silicon sensors. The excellent intrinsic time resolution of a special case of 3D sensors, the trench type, is limited by residual non-uniformities in the duration of the induced currents. The intrinsi…
A silicon 3D detector with a single cell of 50x50 um2 was produced and evaluated for timing applications. The measurements of time resolution were performed for 90Sr electrons with dedicated electronics used also for determining time resolution of Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs). The measurements were compared to those with LGADs and also simulations. The studies showed that the dominant contribution to the timing resolution comes from the time walk originating from different induced current shapes for hits over the cell area. This contribution decreases with higher bias voltages, lower t…
This paper presents the detailed simulation of a double-pixel structure for charged particle detection based on the 3D-trench silicon sensor developed for the TIMESPOT project and a comparison of the simulation results with measurements performed at $π-$M1 beam at PSI laboratory. The simulation is based on the combined use of several software tools (TCAD, GEANT4, TCoDe and TFBoost) which allow to fully design and simulate the device physics response in very short computational time, O(1-100 s) per simulated signal, by exploiting parallel computation using single or multi-thread processors. Thi…
Precision timing has alway been a prominent topic in the instrumentation for high-energy physics experiments. In this document I discuss what the perspectives are for the use of silicon sensors for a time-of-flight detector in a next-generation heavy-ion experiment at the LHC. A brief overview of the experiment and a preliminary assessment of the expected particle-identification performance is also presented.
The advent of silicon photomultipliers has enabled big advances in high energy physics instrumentation, for example by allowing the construction of extremely granular hadronic calorimeters with photon sensors integrated into small scintillator tiles. Direct coupling of the SiPM to the plastic scintillator, without use of wavelength shifting fibers, provides a fast detector response, making such devices well suited for precise timing measurements. We have constructed a setup consisting of 15 such scintillator tiles read out with fast digitizers with deep buffers to measure the time structure of…
Silicon tracking detectors provide excellent spatial resolution, and so can provide excellent momentum resolution for energetic charged particles, even in compact detectors. However, at lower momenta, multiple scattering in the silicon degrades the momentum resolution. We present an alternate method to measure momentum and alleviate this degradation, using silicon detectors that also incorporate timing measurements. By using timing information between two silicon layers, it is possible to solve for the the radius of curvature, and hence the particle momentum, independent of multiple scattering…
Silicon pad sensors with novel functions of higher timing resolution (LGAD: Low Gain Avalanche Detector) and higher position resolution (PSD: Position Sensitive Detector) are studied for an application to Silicon-Tungsten electromagnetic calorimeter for a detector of the International Linear Collider (ILC). Prototype sensors are fabricated, equipped with dedicated ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) and tested with a positron beam as well as a radioisotope. The first results of the measurements of timing resolution with LGADs and position reconstruction with PSDs are reported.
The SAMpler for PICosecond time (SAMPIC) chip has been designed by a collaboration including CEA/IRFU/SEDI, Saclay and CNRS/LAL/SERDI, Orsay. It benefits from both the quick response of a time to digital converter and the versatility of a waveform digitizer to perform accurate timing measurements. Thanks to the sampled signals, smart algorithms making best use of the pulse shape can be used to improve time resolution. A software framework has been developed to analyse the SAMPIC output data and extract timing information by using either a constant fraction discriminator or a fast cross-correla…
Abstract: Solid state sensors having timing capabilities are becoming an absolute need in particle tracking techniques of future experiments at colliders. In this sense, silicon sensors having 3D structure are becoming an interesting solution, due to their intrinsic speed and radiation resistance. A characteristic of such devices is the strict dependence of their performance on their geometric structure, which can be widely optimised by design, thus requiring suitable tools for an accurate modeling of their behaviour. This paper illustrates the development, performance and use of the TCoDe sim…
In this paper the results of a beam test characterization campaign of 3D trench silicon pixel sensors are presented. A time resolution in the order of 10 ps was measured both for non-irradiated and irradiated sensors up to a fluence of $2.5 \cdot 10^{16}\,1\,MeV\, n_{eq}\,cm^{-2}$. This feature and a detection efficiency close to $99\%$ make this sensors one of the best candidates for 4D tracking detectors in High-Energy-Physics experiments.
Many characteristics of Silicon Photomultipliers can be tuned with temperature and operation voltage. We present preliminary results of a study of the effect of these two operation parameters on the time resolution of large active area Multi-Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs) manufactured by Hamamatsu. Measurements at -10 C, 0 C, and 10 C at different bias voltages were performed. The time resolution is best at low temperature and high over-voltage. Most significant improvements can be achieved in cases with low number of fired pixels (<10 pixels). Between the worst and best case among the consider…
Ultra Fast Silicon Detectors (UFSD) are sensors optimized for timing measurements employing a thin multiplication layer to increase the output signal. A multipurpose read-out board hosting a low-cost, low-power fast amplifier was designed at the University of Kansas and tested at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) using a 180 GeV pion beam. The amplifier has been designed to read out a wide range of detectors and it was optimized in this test for the UFSD output signal. In this paper we report the results of the experimental tests using 50 $\rm{μm}$ thick UFSD with a sensiti…
This paper describes the performance of a prototype timing detector, based on 50 micrometer thick Ultra Fast Silicon Detector, as measured in a beam test using a 180 GeV/c momentum pion beam. The dependence of the time precision on the pixel capacitance and the bias voltage is investigated here. A timing precision from 30 ps to 100 ps, depending on the pixel capacitance, has been measured at a bias voltage of 180 V. Timing precision has also been measured as a function of the bias voltage.
Test beam measurements have been carried out with a 3D sensor on a Timepix3 ASIC and the time measurements are presented. The measurements are compared to those of a thin planar sensor on Timepix3. It is shown that for a perpendicularly incident beam the time resolution of both detectors is dominated by the Timepix3 front-end. The 3D detector is dominated by the time-to-digital conversion whereas the analog front-end jitter also gives a significant contribution for the thin planar detector. The 3D detector reaches an overall time resolution of 567(6)ps compared to 683(8)ps for the thin planar …
Due to their very fast signal rise time in the order of 1 ns, Silicon-Photomultipliers have become of increasing interest for many experiments that require very good timing resolution. With the prospect of an application in medical imaging techniques like a Compton Camera or TOF-PET, a coincident detection of Cherenkov photons from electrons in the MeV range in PMMA has been performed. A 4x4 SiPM-array was used for this purpose and a timing resolution of 242 ps has been achieved. A spatial sensitivity for an electron source location could be shown using accumulated coincident light signals. Ob…
SiGe BiCMOS technology can be used to produce ultra-fast, low-power silicon pixel sensors that provide state-of-the-art time resolution even without an internal gain mechanism. The development of such sensors requires the identification of the main factors that may degrade the timing performance and the characterisation of the dependance of the sensor time resolution on the amplifier power consumption. Measurements with a $ \mathrm{^{90}Sr} $ source of a prototype sensor produced in SG13G2 technology from IHP Microelectronics, shows a time resolution of 140 ps at an amplifier current of 7 $ \m…
We report on the energy, timing, and pulse-shape discrimination performance of cylindrical 5 cm diameter x 5 cm thick and 7 cm diameter x 7 cm thick {\it trans}-stilbene crystals read out with the passively summed output of three different commercial silicon photo-multiplier arrays. Our results indicate that using the summed output of an 8x8 array of SiPMs provides performance competitive with photo-multiplier tubes for many neutron imaging and correlated particle measurements: for the 5x5 cm crystal read out with SensL's ArrayJ-60035\_64P-PCB, which had the best overall properties, we measure…
Using scintillator tile technology several square meters of plastic scintillator are read out by only two photomultiplier with a time precision of about 1.5 nsec. Two examples are discussed to build a detector based on this technology to search for cosmic muons and neutrinos.
In this paper we report on the timing resolution of the first production of 50 micro-meter thick Ultra-Fast Silicon Detectors (UFSD) as obtained in a beam test with pions of 180 GeV/c momentum. UFSD are based on the Low-Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGAD) design, employing n-on-p silicon sensors with internal charge multiplication due to the presence of a thin, low-resistivity diffusion layer below the junction. The UFSD used in this test belongs to the first production of thin (50 μm) sensors, with an pad area of 1.4 mm2. The gain was measured to vary between 5 and 70 depending on the bias voltag…
This work aims at the development of signal processing algorithms that can explore the potential of a PICOSEC-MicroMegas detector and offers the ability for online, precise timing. The PICOSEC-MicroMegas detector is a novel gaseous detector offering precise timing resolution in experimental measurements. The performance of the proposed signal processing algorithms is evaluated by a variety of tests using experimental data. The data used in the present research were accumulated during a Laser Beam Test at CEA/IRAMIS-SACLAY. We use two sets of experimental events: the SPE-set comprises single ph…
Timing information in current and future accelerator facilities is important for resolving objects (particle tracks, showers, etc.) in extreme large particles multiplicities on the detection systems. The PICOSEC Micromegas detector has demonstrated the ability to time 150\,GeV muons with a sub-25\,ps precision. Driven by detailed simulation studies and a phenomenological model which describes stochastically the dynamics of the signal formation, new PICOSEC designs were developed that significantly improve the timing performance of the detector. PICOSEC prototypes with reduced drift gap size ($…
In this paper we present a complete characterization of the first batch of Resistive AC-Coupled Silicon Detectors, called RSD1, designed at INFN Torino and manufactured by Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) in Trento. With their 100% fill-factor, RSD represent the new enabling technology for high-precision 4D-tracking. Indeed, being based on the well-known charge multiplication mechanism of Low-Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGAD), they benefit from the very good timing performances of such technology together with an unprecedented resolution of the spatial tracking, which allows to reach the micron-le…
Silicon single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) is a core device for single-photon detection in the visible and the near-infrared range, and widely used in many applications. However, due to limits of the structure design and device fabrication for current silicon SPADs, the key parameters of detection befficiency and timing jitter are often forced to compromise. Here, we propose a nanostructured silicon SPAD, which achieves high detection efficiency with excellent timing jitter simultaneously over a broad spectral range. The optical and electric simulations show significant performance enhanceme…
The past ten years have seen the advent of silicon-based precise timing detectors for charged particle tracking. The underlying reason for this evolution is a design innovation: the Low-Gain Avalanche Diode (LGAD). In its simplicity, the LGAD design is an obvious step with momentous consequences: low gain leads to large signals maintaining sensors stability and low noise, allowing sensor segmentation. Albeit introduced for a different reason, to compensate for charge trapping in irradiated silicon sensors, LGAD found fertile ground in the design of silicon-based timing detectors. Spurred by th…
The evolution of particle detectors has always pushed the technological limit in order to provide enabling technologies to researchers in all fields of science. One archetypal example is the evolution of silicon detectors, from a system with a few channels 30 years ago, to the tens of millions of independent pixels currently used to track charged particles in all major particle physics experiments. Nowadays, silicon detectors are ubiquitous not only in research laboratories but in almost every high-tech apparatus, from portable phones to hospitals. In this contribution, we present a new direct…
The experimental requirements in near future accelerators (e.g. High Luminosity-LHC) has stimulated intense interest in development of detectors with high precision timing capabilities. With this as a goal, a new detection concept called PICOSEC, which is based to a "two-stage" MicroMegas detector coupled to a Cherenkov radiator equipped with a photocathode has been developed. Results obtained with this new detector yield a time resolution of 24\,ps for 150\,GeV muons and 76\,ps for single photoelectrons. In this paper we will report on the performance of the PICOSEC in test beams, as well as …
Low Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) is the baseline sensing technology of the recently proposed Minimum Ionizing Particle (MIP) end-cap timing detectors (MTD) at the Atlas and CMS experiments. The current MTD sensor is designed as a multi-pad matrix detector delivering a poor position resolution, due to the relatively large pad area, around 1 $mm^2$; and a good timing resolution, around 20-30 ps. Besides, in his current technological incarnation, the timing resolution of the MTD LGAD sensors is severely degraded once the MIP particle hits the inter-pad region since the signal amplification is m…
The performance of several trigger counters based on plastic scintillators with silicon photomultiplier readout is investigated with cosmic rays. Efficiency and time resolution are measured using digital waveform analysis. The obtained results are relevant for trigger subsystems of Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) and Baryonic Matter at the Nuclotron (BM@N) at the NICA heavy-ion collider. The results show very high efficiency and good timing performance of the counters.
The development of Low-Gain Avalanche Detectors has opened up the possibility of manufacturing silicon detectors with signal larger than that of traditional sensors. In this paper we explore the timing performance of Low-Gain Avalanche Detectors, and in particular we demonstrate the possibility of obtaining ultra-fast silicon detector with time resolution of less than 20 picosecond.
The light yield, the time resolution and the efficiency of different types of scintillating tiles with direct Silicon Photomultiplier readout and instrumented with a customised front-end electronics have been measured at the Beam Test Facility of Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati and several test stands. The results obtained with different configurations are presented. A time resolution of the order of 300 ps, a light yield of more than 230 photo-electrons, and an efficiency better than 99.8 $\%$ are obtained with $\sim 225$ cm$^2$ large area tiles. This technology is suitable for a wide range …
The Belle II barrel region is instrumented with the Time of Propagation (TOP) particle identification system based on sixteen fused-silica bars arranged around the interaction point acting as Cherenkov radiator. Due to the mechanical design of the TOP system these quartz bars do not overlap, but leave a gap of around 2cm between them. This leads to around 6% of all tracks in the nominal TOP acceptance region to escape without traversing any of the quartz bars and thus not giving any usable particle identification information from the TOP system and an additional 3% of tracks being degraded due…
The STELLA (STELlar LAboratory) experimental station for the measurement of deep sub-barrier light heavy-ion fusion cross sections has been installed at the Andromède accelerator at the Institut de Physique Nucléaire, Orsay (France). The setup is designed for the direct experimental determination of heavy-ion fusion cross sections as low as tens of picobarn. The detection concept is based on the coincident measurement of emitted gamma rays with the UK FATIMA (FAst TIMing Array) and evaporated charged particles using a silicon detector array. Key developments relevant to reaching the extreme su…
In the past few years, the need of measuring accurately the spatial and temporal coordinates of the particles generated in high-energy physics experiments has spurred a strong R\&D in the field of silicon sensors. Within these research activities, the so-called Ultra-Fast Silicon Detectors (UFSDs), silicon sensors optimized for timing based on the Low-Gain Avalanche Diode (LGAD) design, have been proposed and adopted by the CMS and ATLAS collaborations for their respective timing layers. The defining feature of the Ultra-Fast Silicon Detectors (UFSDs) is the internal multiplication mechanism, …
Characterization of Low-energy Ionization Signals in Silicon Detectors for the Nab Experiment
North Carolina State University（北卡罗来纳州立大学）；Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory（三角大学核实验室）；University of Manitoba（曼尼托巴大学）；Los Alamos National Laboratory（洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室）；University of Virginia（弗吉尼亚大学）；Oak Ridge National Laboratory（橡树岭国家实验室）
Capacitance-voltage (CV) measurements are a widely used technique in silicon detector physics. It gives direct information about the full depletion voltage and the effective doping concentration. However, for highly irradiated sensors, the measured data differs significantly from the usual shape which makes the extraction of the afore mentioned parameters less precise to not possible. We present an explanation for the obseved frequency dependence and based on that, a method to extract the desired sensor parameters.
The timing measurement of charged particles using silicon detector is widely used in synchrotron source as X-ray detectors, in time-of-flight mass spectrometer and especially in large collider experiment. To reduce the drastically event pile-up of high-luminosity large hadron collider (HL-LHC), a new concept of 4-dimension detector including timing and positon has been proposed. One of the candidates for the 4-dimension detector is a new kind of silicon detector called Low Gain Avalanche Diode (LGAD). In China, Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) Chinese Academic Science cooperated with No…
The time resolution for several single gap (2 mm) prototype Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) made of high resistive (bulk resistivity ~ 10^10 - 10^12 ohm cm), 2 mm thick matt finished bakelite paper laminates with silicone coating on the inner surfaces, has been measured. The time resolution for all the modules has been found to be ~ 2 ns at the plateau region.
The Belle II experiment, which is situated at the interaction point of the SuperKEKB $e^+e^{-}$ collider at KEK, Tsukuba, Japan, is expected to collect data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 50~ab$^{- 1}$. This data set will be sensitive to beyond-the-standard-model physics via precision measurements and searches for very rare decays. At its heart lies a six-layer vertex detector consisting of two layers of pixel detectors (PXD) and four layers of double-sided silicon microstrip detectors (SVD). Precise vertexing as provided by this device is essential for measurements of time-depen…
