Techniques for the Investigation of Segmented Sensors Using the Two Photon Absorption-Transient Current Technique.

The two photon absorption-transient current technique (TPA-TCT) was used to investigate a silicon strip detector with illumination from the top. Measurement and analysis techniques for the TPA-TCT of segmented devices are presented and discussed using a passive strip CMOS detector and a standard strip detector as an example. The influence of laser beam clipping and reflection is shown, and a method that allows to compensate these intensity-related effects for investigation of the electric field is introduced and successfully employed. Additionally, the mirror technique is introduced, which exploits reflection at a metallised back side to enable the measurement directly below a top metallisation while illuminating from the top.

Study of Ionization Charge Density-Induced Gain Suppression in LGADs.

Gain suppression induced by excess carriers in Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) has been investigated using 3 MeV protons in a nuclear microprobe. In order to modify the ionization density inside the detector, Ion Beam Induced Current (IBIC) measurements were performed at different proton beam incidence angles between 0° and 85°. The experimental results have been analyzed as a function of the ionization density projected on the multiplication layer, finding that the increase of ionization density leads to greater gain suppression. For bias voltages close to the gain onset value, this decrease in gain results into a significant distortion of the transient current waveforms measured by the Time-Resolved IBIC (TRIBIC) technique due to a deficit in the secondary holes component. For angles of incidence such that the Bragg peak falls within the sensitive volume of the detector, the formation of microplasmas modifies the behavior of the gain curves, producing an abrupt decrease in gain as the angle increases.

Fiber laser system of 1550 nm femtosecond pulses with configurable properties for the two-photon excitation of transient currents in semiconductor detectors.

A fiber laser system emitting ultrashort femtosecond pulses at 1550 nm with configurable properties has been developed as an excitation source for the two-photon absorption transient current technique (TPA-TCT). The modules of the system are designed to provide the optical specifications required at the output for localized characterization of semiconductor radiation detectors: variation of pulse energy between 10 nJ and 10p J, variation of the pulse repetition rate from 8.2 MHz to single shot, and variation of pulse duration between 300 and 600 fs. The validity of the system as an excitation source in the TPA-TCT is demonstrated by measuring spatially resolved excited charge carriers in a silicon detector.