First Results for the pLGAD Sensor for Low-Penetrating Particles

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2207.06047
• Publication Date: 2022-10-01
• Authors: Waleed Khalid; Manfred Valentan; Albert Doblas; David Flores; Salvador Hidalgo; Gertrud Konrad; Johann Marton; Neil Moffat; Daniel Moser; Sebastian Onder; Giulio Pellegrini; Jairo Villegas
• Keywords: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph); FOS: Physical sciences; Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det); 7. Clean energy; 01 natural sciences; Physics - Atomic Physics; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; 0103 physical sciences

Silicon sensors are the go-to technology for high-precision sensors in particle physics. But only recently low-noise silicon sensors with internal amplification became available. The so-called Low Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) sensors have been developed for applications in High Energy Physics, but lack two characteristics needed for the measurement of low-energy protons (<60 keV): a thin entrance window (in the order of tens of nm) and the efficient amplification of signals created near the sensor's surface (in a depth below 1 um). In this paper we present the so-called proton Low Gain Avalanche Detector (pLGAD) sensor concept and some results from characterization of the first prototypes of the sensor. The pLGAD is specifically designed to detect low-energy protons, and other low-penetrating particles. It will have a higher detection efficiency than non-silicon technologies, and promises to be a lot cheaper and easier to operate than competing silicon technologies.<br/>5 pages, 5 figuures, VCI 2022<br/>