Semiconductor tracking detectors

History
Milestones
Current R&Ds
Future
Group staff
Recent publications
Contact information

Field, topic

R&D on Semiconductor detectors for imaging and particle tracking in High Energy physics, Nuclear physics and Medicine.

History

Welcome to the website of the Semiconductor Tracking Detectors (STD) Group. The group staff has a long-term experience in R&Ds on different types of silicon radiation hard and tracking detectors for high energy physics (HEP), nuclear physics and X-ray tomography.
The scientific background of the STD group comes from the former "Semiconductor Detector Research and Development Group" in Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute which activities in the field of semiconductor detectors of nuclear radiation in 1960s-1970s were stimulated by the needs of Soviet Union atomic industry and science. Throughout the 1980s, precise silicon planar detectors for ion spectroscopy were developed for the main national research centers and a number of nuclear industry facilities.
In 1990s the activity in the field of silicon detectors was extended into the R&Ds on silicon planar detectors for HEP. These R&Ds were initiated due to collaboration with Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna, and became the starting point for the new research - Radiation Hard Semiconductor Tracking Detectors. The new topic included the investigations on radiation effects on silicon and silicon strip and pixel detectors which operate in harsh radiation environment of high luminosity accelerating facilities and the detectors prototyping. This line of work resulted in the deep involvement of the STD group into international programs focused on the development of semiconductor tracking detectors for Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN. Nowadays the STD group collaborates with:
  • CERN,
  • Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), USA,
  • Hamburg University,
  • INFN, University of Florence,
  • Helsinki Institute of Physics.
The group members are integrated into the main international activities on semiconductor detectors:
  • CERN-RD39 collaboration "Cryogenic radiation hard detectors";
  • CERN-RD42 collaboration "Diamond detectors";
  • CERN-RD50 collaboration "Radiation hard semiconductor devices for very high luminosity colliders";
  • International conference "Radiation Effects on Semiconductor Materials, Devices and Detectors" (RESMDD) (member of program committee).

The milestones in the group activities

  • Development of Transient Current Technique for investigation of heavily irradiated Si detectors (1993, under collaboration with BNL, granted by US - CAST) [1-4].
  • Development of physics for Si heavily irradiated detector operation at cryogenic temperature (1999, under collaboration with CERN, granted by EU - INTAS, project 99-850 "Development of radiation-hard, cryogenic silicon detectors for luminosity and total cross-section measurements at the Large Hadron Collider") [5-10].
  • Development of photodetectors for 2D scintillator array (under collaboration with Photon Imaging, Inc., 2000-2002, granted by US-CRDF, project RE1-2219 "Next Generation Silicon Photodetector Arrays for High Resolution Gamma-Ray Cameras") [11].
  • Quality assurance test and charge collection characterization for Si strip detectors of the ATLAS inner tracker (2003-2005, supported by CERN - ATLAS experiment) [12-15].
  • Development of the long-term radiation effect for Si detectors operation in ATLAS inner tracker (2004, under collaboration with CERN, granted by EU - INTAS, project 03-52-5744 "The charge collection study in microstrip silicon detectors for Quality Assurance CERN-ATLAS SCT program and the future upgrade for LHC experiments") [15-26].
  • Development and fabrication of Si edgeless detectors for CERN-TOTEM experiment (2005 - 2008, supported by CERN - TOTEM experiment) [27-29].
  • Development of radiation hard Si edgeless detectors for CERN-TOTEM experiment. (2006 - 2009, under collaboration with CERN, granted by EU - INTAS, project 05-103-7533 "TOSTER, TOtem STrip Edgeless Radiation hard detectors") [30-34].
  • Development of spectrometric tracking detectors for GSI-EXL experiment (2007 - 2009, (under collaboration with GSI, granted by EU - INTAS, project 06-1000012-8844 "Development of Double-Sided Silicon Microstrip and Li Drifted Silicon Detectors for projects EXL and R3B") [35].
  • The feasibility study of semi-insulating GaAs for the direct detection of solar neutrinos (2000 - 2006, under collaboration with Institute for Nuclear Research, Moscow, and LANL, USA) [36-42].
  • Development of radiation-hard semiconductor detectors with current injection: concept and prototype performance (2005-2007, supported by RFBR, project 05-02-08337ofi_a) [25,26,43,44].

Current R&Ds

The current philosophy of the group is based on the wide range of the accumulated knowledge and experience in semiconductors and semiconductor device physics that allows the development of unique pad and segmented tracking detectors for the exclusive applications which combine together four major subjects:
  • The device physical concept,
  • The device construction/design and prototyping,
  • The device characterization,
  • The scientific maintenance of the device mass-production.
These subjects include:
  • Modeling of detectors based on semiconductors with enhanced concentration of deep energy levels (native defects and radiation induced defects);
  • Approaches for the improvement of radiation hardness of semiconductor detectors (choice of semiconductor grade, detector structure and operational mode);
  • Radiation effects in segmented tracking detectors (charge and signal sharing in strip detectors, physics of interstrip insulation);
  • High electric field effects in heavily irradiated segmented detectors (avalanche multiplication, breakdown, stability of the detector operation);
  • Physics of an ohmic side segmentation and the related effects on the detector signal;
  • Physics of edgeless and 3D detectors;
  • The device topology and photomask development;
  • Investigation of detector characteristics using STD group experimental tools and HEP accelerating facilities;
  • Device performance parameterization;
  • Development of the routine procedure for the device quality evaluation and special qualification tests for technology monitoring along the device mass-production;
  • Development of special electronics and testing equipment for the detector characterization.
The group is currently upgrading the experimental and physical tools which now include:
  • High sensitive current-voltage and capacitance-voltage probestation;
  • Microprobe technique for potential profiling with the accuracy of 1 μm;
  • Subnanosecond resolution scanning Transient Current Technique with different wavelength of the excitation laser in the range (430-1060) nm;
  • The technique for characterization of strip and pixel detectors;
  • Clean room for microsegmented detector assembling;
  • Different software for detector performance simulation including original programs and professional packages.
The group participation in CERN related activities is supported by the Program of the Presidium of RAS "Experimental and theoretical fundamental investigations related with the CERN accelerating facilities" that plays a crucial role for the upgrade of instrumentation and technological ability and allows performing the detector prototyping and development of electronics for the special testing of segmented detectors.

Future

The group starts the activities in several new subjects which will extend its field of interest in the modern semiconductor detector physics and have a high priority status for unique experiments in frontier high energy physics and nuclear physics. They include:
  • Nonequilibrium carrier transport in CVD poly and monocrystalline thick diamond films;
  • Radiation defect generation in Si and nonequilibrium carrier transport in Si detectors at liquid helium temperature.
The group continues applied research and development for the main international programs in high energy physics and nuclear physics carried out in Europe such as:
  • LHC at CERN (upgrading silicon trackers for the experiments - ATLAS and TOTEM);
  • FAIR experiments at GSI, Darmstadt (silicon detector development for the main experiments - NuSTAR-EXL, PANDA, CBM).

Group staff

Vladimir Eremin Head of the group,
Ph.D., Senior Researcher
Elena Verbitskaya Ph.D., Senior Researcher
Igor Il'yashenko Staff Researcher
Alexei Naletko Ph.D. student
Nadezda Safonova Ph.D. student

Collaborators

Zheng Li Head of the Silicon Detector Development & Processing Lab., Instrumentation Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA, and co-spokesperson of CERN-RD39 collaboration
Nicolai Egorov Head of Semiconductor Detector Laboratory, Research Institute of Material Science and Technology, Zelenograd, Russia
Gennaro Ruggiero Head of tracking detector group, TOTEM experiment, CERN
Jaakko Härkönen Head of the group of Helsinki Institute of Physics, co-spokesperson of CERN-RD39 collaboration
Mara Bruzzi Professor, INFN and University of Florence, Italy, and spokesperson of CERN-RD50 collaboration in 2002-2010
Peter Egelhof Spokesperson of NuSTAR-EXL experiment at GSI

Recent publications

  1. V. Eremin, Z. Li, I. Iljashenko. Trapping induced Neff and electrical field transformation at different temperatures in neutron irradiated high resistivity silicon detectors. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 360 (1995) 458-462.
  2. V. Eremin, Z. Li. Carrier drift mobility study in neutron irradiated high purity silicon. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 362 (1995) 338-343.
  3. V.Eremin, N.Strokan, E.Verbitskaya, Z.Li. The development of transient current and charge techniques for the measurement of effective impurity concentration in the space charge region of p-n junction detectors. Nucl. Instr.and Meth. A 373 (1996) 388-398.
  4. Z.Li, C.J.Li, V.Eremin, and E.Verbitskaya. Direct observation and measurements of neutron induced deep levels responsible for Neff changes in high resistivity silicon detectors using TCT. Nucl. Instr.and Meth. A 388 (1997) 297-307.
  5. K. Borer, ... V. Eremin... et al. Charge collection efficiency of irradiated silicon detector operated at cryogenic temperatures. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 440 (2000) 5-16.
  6. P. Collins, ... V. Eremin ... et al. Cryogenic operation of silicon detectors. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 447 (2000) 151-159.
  7. B. Dezillie, V. Eremin, Z. Li, E. Verbitskaya. Polarization of silicon detectors by minimum ionizing particles. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 452 (2000) 440-453.
  8. K. Borer, ... V. Eremin, ... et al. Charge collection efficiency of an irradiated cryogenic double-p silicon detector. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 462 (2001) 474-483
  9. E. Verbitskaya, et al. The effect of charge collection recovery in silicon p-n junction detectors irradiated by different particles. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 514 (2003) 47-61.
  10. T. O. Niinikoski et al. Low-temperature tracking detectors. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 520 (2004) 87-92.
  11. C. Tull, et al. New high sensitivity silicon photodetectors for medical imaging applications. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. NS-50 (2003) 1225-1228.
  12. Z. Li, E. Verbitskaya, V. Eremin, B. Dezillie, W. Chen, M. Bruzzi. Radiation hard detectors from silicon enriched with both oxygen and thermal donors: improvements in donor removal and long-term stability with regard to neutron irradiation. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 476 (2002) 628-638.
  13. V. Eremin, E. Verbitskaya, Z. Li. The origin of double peak electric field distribution in heavily irradiated silicon detectors. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 476 (2002) 556-564.
  14. V. Eremin, E. Verbitskaya, Z. Li. Effect of radiation induced deep level traps on Si detector performance. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 476 (2002) 537-549.
  15. V. Eremin, Z. Li, S. Roe, G. Ruggiero, E. Verbitskaya. Double peak electric field distortion in heavily irradiated silicon strip detectors. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. Phys. Res. A 535 (2004) 622-631.
  16. Z. Li, E. Verbitskaya, et al. Paradoxes of steady-state and pulse operational mode characteristics of silicon detectors irradiated by ultra-high doses of gamma-rays. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. Phys. Res. A 514 (2003) 25-37.
  17. J. Härkönen, ... V. Eremin, et al. Particle detectors made of high resistivity czochralski grown silicon. Phys. Scripta. T114 (2004) 88-90.
  18. J. Härkönen, .. V. Eremin, ... E. Verbitskaya, et al. Radiation hardness of Czochralski silicon, Float Zone silicon and oxygenated Float Zone silicon studied by low energy protons. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 518 (2004) 346-348.
  19. Z. Li, ... E. Verbitskaya, V. Eremin. Radiation hardness of high resistivity magnetic Czochralski silicon detectors after gamma, neutron, and proton radiations. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 51 (2004) 1901-1908.
  20. E. Verbitskaya, V. Eremin, et al. Effect of SiO2 passivating layer in segmented silicon planar detectors on the detector response. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 52 (2005) 1877-1881.
  21. J. Härkönen, ... E. Verbitskaya, V. Eremin, et al. Particle detectors made of high-resistivity Czochralski silicon. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. Phys. Res. A 541 (2005) 202-207.
  22. Z. Li, E.Verbitskaya, V. Eremin,et al. Detector recovery/improvement via elevated-temperature-annealing (DRIVE) - A new approach for Si detector applications in high radiation environment in SLHC. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., NS-53 (2006) 1551-1556.
  23. E. Verbitskaya, V. Eremin, I. Ilyashenko, Z. Li, J. Härkönen, E. Tuovinen, P. Luukka. Operation of heavily irradiated silicon detectors in non-depletion mode. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 557 (2006) 528-536.
  24. E. Verbitskaya, V. Eremin, Z. Li, J. Härkönen, M. Bruzzi. Concept of Double Peak electric field distribution in the development of radiation hard silicon detectors. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 583 (2007) 77-86.
  25. V. Eremin, et al. The operation and performance of Current Injected Detector (CID). Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 581 (2007) 356-360.
  26. V. Eremin, J. Härkönen, Z. Li, E. Verbitskaya. Current Injected Detectors (CID) at SLHC program. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 583 (2007) 91-98.
  27. Z. Li, ... V. Eremin, ... E. Verbitskaya, et al. Electrical and TCT characterization of edgeless Si detector diced with different methods. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. Vol.49 (2002) 1040-1046.
  28. E. Noschis, V. Eremin, G. Ruggiero. Simulations of planar edgeless silicon detectors with a current terminating structure. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 574 (2007) 420-424.
  29. G. Ruggiero, V. Eremin, E. Noschis. Planar edgeless silicon detectors for the TOTEM experiment. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 582 (2007) 854-857.
  30. E. Verbitskaya, et al. Advanced Model of Silicon Edgeless Detector Operation. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (2008) 2711-2716.
  31. J.P. Balbuena, G. Pellegrini, M. Lozano, G. Ruggiero, M. Ullán, E. Verbitskaya. Simulation of Irradiated Edgeless Detectors. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (2008) 2554-2556.
  32. E. Verbitskaya, G. Ruggiero, V. Eremin, I. Ilyashenko, A. Cavallini, A. Castaldini, G. Pellegrini, T. Tuuva. Electrical properties of the sensitive side in Si edgeless detectors. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 604 (2009) 246-249.
  33. G. Ruggiero, ... V. Eremin, et al. Characteristics of edgeless silicon detectors for the Roman Pots of the TOTEM experiment at the LHC. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 604 (2009) 242-245.
  34. E. Verbitskaya, V.Eremin, G.Ruggiero. Status of silicon edgeless detector developments for close-to-beam experiments. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 612 (2010) 501-508.
  35. V. K. Eremin, et al. Intersegment resistance in silicon p-n-Junction position-sensitive detectors. Semiconductors 43 (2009) 796-800.
  36. E. Verbitskaya, et al. Charge collection efficiency in SI GaAs grown from melts with variable composition as a material for solar neutrino detection. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 439 (2000) 634-646.
  37. A. V. Markov, ... V. K Eremin, E. M. Verbitskaya, et al. Study of GaAs as a material for solar neutrino detectors. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 439 (2000) 651-661.
  38. V. N. Gavrin, ... V. K. Eremin, E.M. Verbitskaya, et al. Bulk GaAs as a solar neutrino detector. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 466 (2001) 119-125.
  39. A. V. Markov, ... V. K. Eremin, E.M. Verbitskaya, et al. Semi-insulating LEC GaAs as a material for radiation detectors: materials science issues. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 466 (2001) 14-24.
  40. A. V. Markov, ... V. K. Eremin, E. M. Verbitskaya, T. J. Bowles. Electrical properties and deep levels in bulk solution grown GaAs crystal. Solid-State Electron. 46 (2002) 2161-2168.
  41. J. P. Kozlova, ..., V. K. Eremin, E. M. Verbitskaya, et al. A comparative study of EL2 and other deep centers in undoped SI GaAs using optical absorption spectra and photoconductivity measurements. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 512 (2003) 1-7.
  42. E. M. Verbitskaya, et al. Characteristics of Nuclear Radiation Detectors Based on Semi-Insulating Gallium Arsenide. Semiconductors 38 (2004) 472-479.
  43. E.Verbitskaya, et al. Optimization of electric field distribution by free carrier injection in silicon detectors operated at low temperatures. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 49 (2002) 258-263.
  44. J. Härkönen, V. Eremin, et al. Test beam results of a heavily irradiated Current Injected Detector (CID). Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 612 (2010) 488-492.

Contact Information

Tel.: +7 812 292 7953
Fax: +7 812 297 6245
E-mail: vladimir.eremin@cern.ch
Contact person: Vladimir Eremin

Semiconductor tracking detectors group
Laboratory of nonequilibrium processes in semiconductors
Ioffe Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
Politekhnicheskaya 26,
St.Petersburg, 194021 Russia