arXiv subjects

Miguel Ullan

Publications and source records attributed to Miguel Ullan.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Radiation effects on surface and bulk properties of ATLAS18 silicon sensors under low- and high-dose gamma irradiation and annealing

Silicon strip detectors for the ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk) at the HL-LHC must withstand harsh radiation conditions, including fluences of up to 1.6E15 1 MeV n$_{eq}$/cm$^{2}$ and total ionizing doses (TID) of up to 66 Mrad. These requirements are met using radiation-hard n+-in-p technology implemented in the ATLAS18 silicon strip sensors currently under production. This work presents a combined study of gamma-irradiation effects in ATLAS18 silicon sensors, including both segmented miniature strip sensors (minis) and unsegmented MD8 diodes fabricated on ATLAS18 production wafers. The samples were irradiated with a $^{60}$Co gamma source to multiple low TIDs between 0.5 and 100 krad, corresponding to the dose range relevant for the early operational phase of the ITk tracker. Additional measurements extending up to a few Mrad were performed to investigate the saturation of surface related damage effects. Post-irradiation characterization included measurements of total, bulk, and surface leakage currents, as well as capacitance-voltage measurements used to extract the full depletion voltage. The thermal stability of radiation-induced defects was studied using isochronal annealing between 80{\deg}C and 300{\deg}C and isothermal annealing at 60{\deg}C and 160{\deg}C. In addition, complementary studies of MD8 diodes irradiated to ultra-high doses of several hundred Mrad, well beyond the ATLAS ITk requirements, are included to investigate possible bulk-related effects induced by pure gamma irradiation and their annealing behavior. The combined analysis of low- and ultra-high-dose irradiation provides a comprehensive picture of surface- and bulk-related gamma-induced effects in ATLAS18 silicon sensors and their thermal evolution.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Investigating the impact of the diode edge geometry on the effective active area of silicon sensors using AREA-X

Sensors for particle tracking detectors are required to provide a maximum active area in addition to fulfilling performance criteria concerning radiation hardness, charge collection and operating conditions (e.g. leakage current, depletion voltage and breakdown voltage). While the requirement for optimised coverage within the tracking detector necessitates a slim sensor edge between active region and physical sensor edge, wider edge regions were found to be beneficial for the sensor performance during an early prototyping phase. In order to study the impact of differently sized edge regions, test structures were used to compare their individual active regions. Measurements of each diode were performed using a micro-focused X-ray beam to map its respective active area. This paper presents measurements of these test structures using AREA-X showing that the active area of a silicon particle tracking sensor does not only depend on the size of its bias ring, but also the size and configuration of its edge structure.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

TCAD Simulations of Humidity-Induced Breakdown of Silicon Sensors

The breakdown voltage of silicon sensors is known to be affected by the ambient humidity. To understand the sensor's humidity sensitivity, Synopsys TCAD was used to simulate n-in-p sensors for different effective relative humidities. Photon emission of hot electrons was imaged with a microscope to locate breakdown in the edge-region of the sensor. The Top-Transient Current Technique was used to measure charge transport near the surface in the breakdown region of the sensor. Using the measurements and simulations, the evolution of the electric field with relative humidity and the carrier densities towards breakdown in the periphery of p-bulk silicon sensors are investigated.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Thermal and hydrodynamic studies for micro-channel cooling for large area silicon sensors in high energy physics experiments

Micro-channel cooling initially aiming at small-sized high-power integrated circuits is being transferred to the field of high energy physics. Today`s prospects of micro-fabricating silicon opens a door to a more direct cooling of detector modules. The challenge in high energy physics is to save material in the detector construction and to cool large areas. In this paper, we are investigating micro-channel cooling as a candidate for a future cooling system for silicon detectors in a generic research and development approach. The work presented in this paper includes the production and the hydrodynamic and thermal testing of a micro-channel equipped prototype optimized to achieve a homogeneous flow distribution. Furthermore, the device was simulated using finite element methods.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Characterisation of silicon microstrip detectors for the ATLAS Phase-II Upgrade with a micro-focused X-ray beam

The planned HL-LHC (High Luminosity LHC) in 2025 is being designed to maximise the physics potential through a sizable increase in the luminosity up to 6*10^34 cm^-2 s^-1. A consequence of this increased luminosity is the expected radiation damage at 3000 fb^-1 after ten years of operation, requiring the tracking detectors to withstand fluences to over 1*10^16 1 MeV n_eq/cm^2 . In order to cope with the consequent increased readout rates, a complete re-design of the current ATLAS Inner Detector (ID) is being developed as the Inner Tracker (ITk). Two proposed detectors for the ATLAS strip tracker region of the ITk were characterized at the Diamond Light Source with a 3 um FWHM 15 keV micro focused X-ray beam. The devices under test were a 320 Um thick silicon stereo (Barrel) ATLAS12 strip mini sensor wire bonded to a 130 nm CMOS binary readout chip (ABC130) and a 320 Um thick full size radial (end-cap) strip sensor - utilizing bi-metal readout layers - wire bonded to 250 nm CMOS binary readout chips (ABCN-25). A resolution better than the inter strip pitch of the 74.5 um strips was achieved for both detectors. The effect of the p-stop diffusion layers between strips was investigated in detail for the wire bond pad regions. Inter strip charge collection measurements indicate that the effective width of the strip on the silicon sensors is determined by p-stop regions between the strips rather than the strip pitch.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2015

Rad-hard vertical JFET switch for the HV-MUX system of the ATLAS upgrade Inner Tracker

This work presents a new silicon vertical JFET (V-JFET) device, based on the trenched 3D-detector technology developed at IMB-CNM, to be used as switches for the High-Voltage powering scheme of the ATLAS upgrade Inner Tracker. The optimization of the device characteristics is performed by 2D and 3D TCAD simulations. Special attention has been paid to the on-resistance and the switch-off and breakdown voltages to meet the specific requirements of the system. In addition, a set of parameter values has been extracted from the simulated curves to implement a SPICE model of the proposed V-JFET transistor. As these devices are expected to operate under very high radiation conditions during the whole experiment life-time, a study of the radiation damage effects and the expected degradation on the device performance is also presented at the end of the paper.

physics.ins-det↗