[en] Thin substrates are one of the possible choices to provide radiation hard detectors for future high-energy physics experiments. Among the advantages of thin detectors are the low full depletion voltage, even after high particle fluences, the improvement of the tracking precision and momentum resolution and the reduced material budget. In the framework of the CERN RD50 Collaboration, we have developed p-n diode detectors on membranes obtained by locally thinning the silicon substrate by means of tetra-methyl ammonium hydroxide etching from the wafer backside. Diodes of different shapes and sizes have been fabricated on 57 and 99 μm thick membranes. They have been tested, showing a very low leakage current (<0.4 nA/cm²) and, as expected, a very low depletion voltage (<1 V for the 57 μm membrane). The paper describes the technological approach used for devices fabrication and reports selected results from the electrical characterization

[en] Two technological options to achieve a high deposition rate, low stress plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) silicon nitride to be used in capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUT) fabrication are investigated and presented. Both options are developed and implemented on standard production line PECVD equipment in the framework of a CMUT technology transfer from R and D to production. A tradeoff between deposition rate, residual stress and electrical properties is showed. The first option consists in a double layer of silicon nitride with a relatively high deposition rate of ∼100 nm min"−"1 and low compressive residual stress, which is suitable for the fabrication of the thick nitride layer used as a mechanical support of the CMUTs. The second option involves the use of a mixed frequency low-stress silicon nitride with outstanding electrical insulation capability, providing improved mechanical and electrical integrity of the CMUT active layers. The behavior of the nitride is analyzed as a function of deposition parameters and subsequent annealing. The nitride layer characterization is reported in terms of interfaces density influence on residual stress, refractive index, deposition rate, and thickness variation both as deposited and after thermal treatment. A sweet spot for stress stability is identified at an interfaces density of 0.1 nm"−"1, yielding 87 MPa residual stress after annealing. A complete CMUT device fabrication is reported using the optimized nitrides. The CMUT performance is tested, demonstrating full functionality in ultrasound imaging applications and an overall performance improvement with respect to previous devices fabricated with non-optimized silicon nitride. (paper)

[en] We present a new 3D detector architecture aimed at simplifying the manufacturing process making it more suitable for high volume production. In particular, the proposed device features electrodes of one doping type only, e.g., n⁺ columns in a p-type substrate. We report on TCAD simulation results providing deep insight into the static and dynamic behavior of this detector, highlighting its advantages and potential drawbacks. The fabrication process we intend to use is also described along with results from the morphological characterization of the most critical technological steps

[en] The foreseen luminosity of the new experiments in High Energy Physics will require that the innermost layer of vertex detectors will be able to sustain fluencies up to 10¹⁶ n_eq/cm². Moreover, in many experiments there is a demand for the minimization of the material budget of the detectors. Therefore, thin pixel devices fabricated on n-type silicon are a natural choice to fulfill these requirements due to their rad-hard performances and low active volume. We present an R and D activity aimed at developing a new thin hybrid pixel device in the framework of PANDA experiments. The detector of this new device is a p-on-n pixel sensor realized starting from epitaxial silicon wafers and back thinned up to 50–100 μm after process completion. We present the main technological steps and some electrical characterization on the fabricated devices before and after back thinning and after bump bonding to the front-end electronics

[en] In the last decades much effort has been addressed to realize novel solid state photo-detectors with a high quantum efficiency in the UV wavelength region to be used in experiments detecting Cherenkov or fluorescence radiation even at cryogenic temperatures. Among the possible devices with these characteristics, the large-area solid detectors made of n-doped silicon substrate coated with Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) appear to be particularly promising since they combine the great UV radiation absorbance of MWCNTs (at about 200 nm) with their unique characteristics for electrical conductivity and mechanical resistance at low temperatures. In this work we present the cryogenic characteristics of a MWCNT-Si large-area (1 cm²) photo-detector, in which a UV photo-sensitive heterojunction is obtained growing, by Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), multi-walled carbon nanotubes on an n-type silicon substrate. Measurements have been made at various temperatures in the range from 5K to 300K by illuminating the photo-detector with a 378 nm UV continuous laser light source. Results demonstrate the capability of such device to be successfully employed in cryogenic experiments as well at room temperature with high stability and high photon detection efficiency in the UV region.

[en] In the past two years 3D silicon radiation detectors have been developed at ITC-irst (Trento, Italy). As a first step toward full 3D devices, simplified structures featuring columnar electrodes of one doping type only were fabricated. This paper reports the electro-optical characterization of 3D test diodes made with this approach. Experimental results and TCAD simulations provide good insight into the charge collection mechanism and response speed limitation of these structures

[en] A graphene/Si heterojunction device has been realized to overcome many different requests necessary to make it a versatile, widely used and competitive detector. The obtained photodetectors, which operate at room temperature, are sensitive in the spectral region from ultraviolet (240 nm) to infrared (2000 nm) and they can be used in different configurations that allow a high responsivity up to 10⁷ A W⁻¹, a rise time of a few nanoseconds, an external quantum efficiency greater than 300%, and a linear response for different light sources. This is allowed by the high quality of the graphene deposited on a large area of 8 mm², and by the interdigitated design of the contacts, both preserving the excellent properties of graphene when switching from nanoscale to macroscopic dimensions of commonly used devices. (paper)

[en] We report on JFET devices fabricated on high-resistivity silicon with a radiation detector technology. The problems affecting previous versions of these devices have been thoroughly investigated and solved by developing an improved fabrication process, which allows for a sizeable enhancement in the JFET performance. In this paper, the main features of the fabrication technology are presented and selected results from the electrical and noise characterization of transistors are discussed

[en] We report on the results from the production of 600 double-sided silicon microstrip detectors for the ALICE experiment. We present the fabrication process and some selected results from the electrical characterization of detectors and test structures. The large amount of experimental data allowed a statistically relevant analysis to be performed. The main technological aspects related to production yield optimization will also be addressed

[en] Because of their superior radiation resistance, three-dimensional (3D) silicon sensors are receiving more and more interest for application in the innermost layers of tracker systems for experiments running in very high luminosity colliders. Their short electrode distance allows for both a low depletion voltage and a high charge collection efficiency even at extremely high radiation fluences. In order to fully understand the properties of a 3D detector, a thorough characterization of the signal formation mechanism is of paramount importance. In this work the shape of the current induced by localized and uniform charge depositions in a single-type column 3D detector is studied. A first row estimation is given applying the Ramo theorem, then a more complete TCAD simulation is used to provide a more realistic pulse shape