Researchers Demonstrate Improved Timing Resolution in Irradiated Trench-Isolated LGAD Detectors
Researchers tested carbon-infused trench-isolated Low-Gain Avalanche Detectors (TI-LGADs) under high radiation conditions using a 120 GeV pion beam at CERN's SPS facility, finding time resolutions between 35 and 45 picoseconds across all devices studied. TI-LGADs, developed at FBK, use physical trenches etched into silicon to separate detector pixels, addressing a longstanding inefficiency problem in conventional LGAD designs. These results are relevant to next-generation particle physics detectors that must simultaneously track particle position and arrival time with high precision in radiation-harsh environments.
Trench-isolated Low-Gain Avalanche Detectors (TI-LGADs) represent a pixelated silicon detector technology designed to overcome the fill-factor limitations of standard LGADs, which suffer from reduced detection efficiency in the regions between pads. In this study, a team from multiple European institutions evaluated carbon-infused TI-LGAD devices irradiated to fluences up to 2.5 × 10¹⁵ neq cm⁻², simulating the radiation doses expected in future high-luminosity collider experiments. Testing was conducted at −25°C using a 120 GeV pion beam at CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron, with devices featuring single-trench implementations of varied trench widths. The key findings show that while interpad distance degrades with increasing irradiation, time resolution remains robust at 35–45 ps across all tested devices and fluence levels. This combination of spatial and temporal precision positions TI-LGADs as a strong candidate technology for so-called 4D tracking detectors. The work has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Instrumentation (JINST) as part of the 21st Trento Workshop proceedings.
What's missing
Comparisons to competing technologies (e.g., standard LGADs or other fill-factor solutions) under equivalent irradiation conditions are not discussed, which would help contextualize the performance gains. Long-term stability and operational lifetime projections under sustained irradiation are also not addressed.
What different sources said
- arXiv physicsCenter
Tracking and timing measurements on irradiated TI-LGADs
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