Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

Measurements of efficiency, timing and response to irradiation for direct detection of charged particles with SiPMs

F. Carnesecchi, B. Sabiu, B. R. Achari, N. Agrawal, A. Alici, P. Antonioli, S. Arcelli, C. Baldanza, F. Bellini, S. Bufalino, D. Cavazza, L. Cifarelli, G. Clai, M. Colocci, S. Durando, F. Ercolessi, G. Fabbri, D. Falchieri, C. Ferrero, A. Ficorella, U. Follo, M. Garbini, S. Geminiani, G. Gioachin, A. Gola, D. Hatzifotiadou, A. Khuntia, I. Lax, M. Maestrelli, A. Margotti, G. Malfattore, R. Nania, F. Noferini, L. Parellada-Monreal, M. Penna, O. Pinazza, R. Preghenella, M. Razza, R. Ricci, L. Rignanese, A. Rivetti, G. Romanenko, N. Rubini, E. Rovati, E. Scapparone, G. Scioli, S. Strazzi, S. Tomassini, C. Veri, A. Zichichi

TL;DR

This study demonstrates direct charged-particle detection with SiPMs by exploiting Cherenkov light in the protection layer, achieving near unity efficiency and around $20$ ps time resolution for 3x3 mm^2 devices. It extends the evaluation to larger-area sensors and shows that irradiation up to $10^{10}$ n_eq cm^-2 increases dark count but timing remains stable when appropriate thresholds are applied. The work compares 3x3-40 and 1x1-20 SiPMs, finding that larger areas collect more SPADs for higher amplitudes while smaller devices can offer lower capacitance and slight timing advantages at the same signal level. These results support the use of direct SiPM-based TOF layers in the ALICE3 program and provide practical guidance on thresholding and front-end design to balance efficiency, timing, and radiation tolerance.

Abstract

In this paper the efficiency of direct charged particle detection with different Silicon PhotoMultiplier (SiPM) sensors has been measured to be close to 100%. Time resolution of about 20 ps has also been confirmed for sensors with an active area of around 3x3 mm$^\text{2}$ and a single-cell area of 40 $μ$m$^\text{2}$. In addition, the SiPM performance after irradiation, in terms of timing response and dark count rate, has been evaluated for sensors with a 1x1 mm$^\text{2}$ area, demonstrating that SiPMs can maintain excellent timing capabilities and a low dark count rate when an appropriate threshold is applied to the signal.

Measurements of efficiency, timing and response to irradiation for direct detection of charged particles with SiPMs

TL;DR

This study demonstrates direct charged-particle detection with SiPMs by exploiting Cherenkov light in the protection layer, achieving near unity efficiency and around ps time resolution for 3x3 mm^2 devices. It extends the evaluation to larger-area sensors and shows that irradiation up to n_eq cm^-2 increases dark count but timing remains stable when appropriate thresholds are applied. The work compares 3x3-40 and 1x1-20 SiPMs, finding that larger areas collect more SPADs for higher amplitudes while smaller devices can offer lower capacitance and slight timing advantages at the same signal level. These results support the use of direct SiPM-based TOF layers in the ALICE3 program and provide practical guidance on thresholding and front-end design to balance efficiency, timing, and radiation tolerance.

Abstract

In this paper the efficiency of direct charged particle detection with different Silicon PhotoMultiplier (SiPM) sensors has been measured to be close to 100%. Time resolution of about 20 ps has also been confirmed for sensors with an active area of around 3x3 mm and a single-cell area of 40 m. In addition, the SiPM performance after irradiation, in terms of timing response and dark count rate, has been evaluated for sensors with a 1x1 mm area, demonstrating that SiPMs can maintain excellent timing capabilities and a low dark count rate when an appropriate threshold is applied to the signal.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 9 sections, 1 equation, 5 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Experimental setup
  3. Detectors
  4. Beam test setup
  5. Analysis method
  6. Results
  7. Efficiency and timing measurements
  8. Irradiated samples
  9. Conclusions

Figures (5)

  • Figure 1: Distribution of the raw signal amplitudes of SR15-1x1-20 with respect to SR15-3x3-40, associated to $10^5$ events at $V_{\text{OV}}~\simeq~2$ V.
  • Figure 2: Efficiency versus signal threshold for different 3x3-40 SiPMs, with and without protection, at different $V_\text{OV}$. The equivalent measurements of noise in a region prior to the signal is reported in the lower panels of the figure. One SPAD signal, reported with vertical dashed lines, is around $36$ mV, $50$ mV and $62$ mV at 2, 3 and 4 $V_{\text{OV}}$ respectively.
  • Figure 3: (Left) Time resolution versus timing threshold at $V_\text{OV} \simeq 4$ V for the SiPMs described in Section \ref{['sec2']}, after the event selection described in the text (on the top x-axis is reported also the number of SPADs corresponding to a given threshold). (Right) Time resolution versus amplitude intervals, considering only the best timing threshold from the left figure. For each point, the corresponding approximate event fraction is shown. The quoted errors of about $10\%$ include the statistics and an evaluation of the systematic uncertainties also considering the reference LGAD contribution.
  • Figure 4: DCR versus threshold for SR1-1x1-20 at $V_{\text{OV}}$ of 2 V and 4 V before and after irradiation. Further details are provided in the text.
  • Figure 5: Time resolution of SR1-1x1-20 before and after irradiation versus number of fired SPADs at $V_{\text{OV}}$ of 2 V (left) and 4 V (right). On the bottom x-axis the corresponding mean peak value of every SPAD is reported. For each point the approximated corresponding fraction of events is reported. Errors are evaluated as in Fig. \ref{['fig:Timing']}. Further details are provided in the text.