The Ion Beam Induced Charge Collection (IBIC) technique was used to map the charge collection efficiency (CCE) of a 4H-SiC photodetector with coplanar interdigitated Schottky barrier electrodes and a common ohmic contact on the back side. IBIC maps were obtained using focused proton beams with energies of 0.9 MeV and 1.5 MeV, at different bias voltages and different sensitive electrode configurations (charge collection at the top Schottky or at the back Ohmic contact). These different experimental conditions have been modeled using a two dimensional finite element code to solve the adjoint carrier continuity equations and the results obtained have been compared with experimental results. The excellent consistency between the simulated and experimental CCE maps allows an exhaustive interpretation of the charge collection mechanisms occurring in pixellated or strip detectors.
Low noise CCDs fully-depleted up to 675 micrometers have been identified as a unique tool for Dark Matter searches and low energy neutrino physics. The charge collection efficiency (CCE) for these detectors is a critical parameter for the performance of future experiments. We present here a new technique to characterize CCE in back-illuminated CCDs based on soft X-rays. This technique is used to characterize two different detector designs. The results demonstrate the importance of the backside processing for detection near threshold, showing that a recombination layer of a few microns significantly distorts the low energy spectrum. The studies demonstrate that the region of partial charge collection can be reduced to less than 1 micrometer thickness with adequate backside processing.
We report the time resolution of 100 $rm mu m$ 4H-SiC PIN detectors which are fabricated by Nanjing University (NJU). The time responses for $rm beta$ particle from $rm ^{90}$Sr source are investigated for the detection of the minimum ionizing particles (MIPs). The influences of different reverse voltages which correspond to carrier velocity and device sizes which correlate with capacitance for time resolution are studied. We acquired a time resolution (94$pm$1) ps for 100 $rm mu m$ 4H-SiC PIN detector. A fast simulation software - RASER (RAdiation SEmiconductoR) has been developed to simulate the time resolution of 4H-SiC detector, and the simulation has been validated by the waveform comparison of RASER simulation and measured data. The simulated time resolution is (53 $pm$ 1) ps after consider the intrinsic leading contributions of detector in time resolution.
We have modeled laser-induced transient current waveforms in radiation coplanar grid detectors. Poissons equation has been solved by finite element method and currents induced by photo-generated charge were obtained using Shockley-Ramo theorem. The spectral response on a radiation flux has been modeled by Monte-Carlo simulations. We show 10$times$ improved spectral resolution of coplanar grid detector using differential signal sensing. We model the current waveform dependence on doping, depletion width, diffusion and detector shielding and their mutual dependence is discussed in terms of detector optimization. The numerical simulations are successfully compared to experimental data and further model simplifications are proposed. The space charge below electrodes and a non-homogeneous electric field on a coplanar grid anode are found to be the dominant contributions to laser-induced transient current waveforms.
The technology of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) has been selected for the two instruments aboard the Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT) space mission. LOFT underwent a three year long assessment phase as candidate for the M3 launch opportunity within the Cosmic Vision 2015 -- 2025 long-term science plan of the European Space Agency. During the LOFT assessment phase, we studied the displacement damage produced in the SDDs by the protons trapped in the Earths magnetosphere. In a previous paper we discussed the effects of the Non Ionising Energy Losses from protons on the SDD leakage current. In this paper we report the measurement of the variation of Charge Collection Efficiency produced by displacement damage caused by protons and the comparison with the expected damage in orbit.
A detailed study of charge collection efficiency has been performed on the Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) of the ALICE experiment. Three different methods to study the collected charge as a function of the drift time have been implemented. The first approach consists in measuring the charge at different injection distances moving an infrared laser by means of micrometric step motors. The second method is based on the measurement of the charge injected by the laser at fixed drift distance and varying the drift field, thus changing the drift time. In the last method, the measurement of the charge deposited by atmospheric muons is used to study the charge collection efficiency as a function of the drift time. The three methods gave consistent results and indicated that no charge loss during the drift is observed for the sensor types used in 99% of the SDD modules mounted on the ALICE Inner Tracking System. The atmospheric muons have also been used to test the effect of the zero-suppression applied to reduce the data size by erasing the counts in cells not passing the thresholds for noise removal. As expected, the zero suppression introduces a dependence of the reconstructed charge as a function of drift time because it cuts the signal in the tails of the electron clouds enlarged by diffusion effects. These measurements allowed also to validate the correction for this effect extracted from detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the detector response and applied in the offline data reconstruction.