Giuseppe Iacobucci Web Pages
The MONOLITH ERC Advanced Project
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WHAT IS THE MONOLITH PROJECT PROPOSING ?
We want to develop a monolithic silicon sensor able to measure precisely the 3D spatial position of charged particles while providing at the same time 听picosecond time resolution. To provide future experiments with a听sustainable solution, these goals will be achieved by the reduced production complexity and cost of monolithic sensors exploiting commercial CMOS processes of large-volume silicon foundries.
WHY ?
The outstanding time resolution and monolithic nature of the detector proposed by the MONOLITH project, combined with the high granularity, the low material budget and the reduced production complexity and cost with respect to hybrid silicon sensors, will represent a ground-breaking and听sustainable听instrument for basic research, in particular for:
- future high-energy physics experiments at colliders;
- rare-decay experiments featuring active targets or requiring precise tracking;
- space-borne astroparticle physics experiments and space science;
- nuclear-physics measurement of lifetimes of excited states in short-lived nuclei.
Besides the primary goal of basic science, it will represent an extraordinary enabling technology for the large spectrum of high-tech applications that benefits of picosecond-level Time-Of-Flight measurements. The innovative monolithic detector introduced here will also offer a starting point for further progress in the field of light detection.
HOW ?
The diode structure of present silicon pixel sensors strongly penalises the enormous potential of silicon-based听time measurement.听The MONOLITH project introduces a novel silicon-sensor structure devised to overcome the intrinsic limits of present sensors. This goal is achieved by the Picosecond Avalanche Detector (PicoAD), a novel sensor exploiting a fully depleted multi-PN junction (European Patent 18181123.3, 2 July 2018). The remarkable performance of the PicoAD, combined with the simplified assembly process and reduced production cost offered by the monolithic implementation in standard CMOS processes, represent the required breakthrough.
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In addition to the 听multi-junction PicoAD sensor, the cornerstones of the project are the low-noise very-fast SiGe HBT frontend and the TDC with robust synchronisation method (patent EP听18 207 008.6, 19听November 2018)听already produced in preliminary versions.
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The MONOLITH project encompasses four work packages, as shown by the figure on the right.
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We are presently developing our circuits and sensors using the IHP SG13G2 130nm process.听Large-volume foundry processes will also be investigated.
European industrial partners have been contacted for commercial exploitation of the detector.
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RESULTS so far:
- A proof-of-concept PicoAD prototype was produced by IHP. 听Wafers with epitaxial layers of 5碌m (absorption region) and 10碌m (drift region) were produced, with four different implant doses in between for the gain layer. Lab tests with 55Fe source showed that the detector works as expected, and provides a gain of 23 at HV=125V听for the highest implant dose, see听.
- In testbeam measurements the proof-of-concept prototype proved full efficiency and and average time resolution of 17 ps, with 13 ps at the center of the pixel and 25 ps in the inter-pixel region听.
- A second prototype was produced recently with several improvements in the electronics. Produced on a 50碌m epilayer of resistivity of 350 惟cm, WITHOUT INTERNAL GAIN LAYER, we obtained the following results:
- in a the testbeam: 听 we obtained full efficiency and average time resolution of 20 ps,听, which is a striking result for a PN-junction sensor without a gain layer
- using 听a 90Sr radioactive source: 听we proved that SiGe HBTs are radiation tolerant for proton fluence of 10^16 1 MeV n_eq/cm^2, with a timing performance of 40 ps,听
- using a femtosecond laser, we measured time resolutions down to 3 ps听听
We are looking forward to early 2024 when a 听sensor will be produced based on these foundry masks and PicoAD wafers.
This MONOLITH听research project is funded by听the听H2020 ERC Advanced grant 884447,听July 2020 - June 2025
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Participating researchers: 听Giuseppe Iacobucci,听Lorenzo Paolozzi,听Thanushan Kugathasan, Roberto Cardella, Stefano Zambito, Didier Ferr茅re, Yannick Favre, St茅phane D茅bieux, Matteo Milanesio, Th茅o Moretti, Antonio Picardi, Luca Iodice, Carlo Alberto Fenoglio, Andrea Pizarro-Medina, Ivan Semandyaev
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Former participants:听Magdalena Muenker, Pierpaolo Valerio,听Fulvio Martinelli
Group publications on this subject:
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Time Resolution of a SiGe BiCMOS Monolithic Silicon Pixel Detector without Internal Gain Layer with a Femtosecond Laser
M. MILANESIO et al.
Submitted to Journal of Instrumentation (2024) []
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M. MILANESIO et al.
Journal of Instrumentation 19 (P01014) (2023) [] -
S. ZAMBITO et al.
JINST 18 (P03047) (2023) []
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G. IACOBUCCI et al.
JINST 17 (P10040) (2022) [] -
L. PAOLOZZI et al.
JINST 17 (P10032) (2022) [] -
G. Iacobucci et al.
JINST P02019 (P02019) (2022) []
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F. MARTINELLI et al.
Journal of Instrumentation 16 (P12038) (2021) [] -
Giuseppe IACOBUCCI, Lorenzo PAOLOZZI, Pierpaolo VALERIO
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 24 (9) 5-11 (2021) -
F. MARTINELLI et al.
JINST 16 (P11023) (2021)
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L. PAOLOZZI et al.
JINST P11025 (P11025) (2020) []
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Iacobucci G. et al.
JINST 14 (P11008) (2019) []
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Valerio P. et al.
JINST 14 (P07013) (2018) [] [] -
Paolozzi L. et al.
JINST 14 (P02009) (2018) [] [] -
L. PAOLOZZI et al.
JINST 13 (P04015) (2018) []