Sub-10 ps Minimum Ionizing Particle Detection with Geiger-Mode APDs

Abstract

Major advances in silicon pixel detectors, with outstanding timing performance, have recently attracted significant attention in the community. In this work we present and discuss the use of stateof-the-art Geiger-mode APDs, also known as single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), for the detection of minimum ionizing particles (MIPs) with best-in-class timing resolution. The SPADs were implemented in standard CMOS technology and integrated with on-chip quenching and recharge circuitry. Two devices in coincidence allowed to measure the time-of-flight of 180 GeV/c momentum pions with a coincidence time resolution of 22 ps FWHM (9.5 ps Gaussian sigma). Radiation hardness measurements, also presented here, highlight the suitability of this family of devices for a wide range of high energy physics (HEP) applications.

Direct detection of charged particles with SiPMs

“…However, it has been pointed out that SiPMs can directly detect ionizing particles, without the need for a photon source like a scintillator: this has been observed with a relativistic ion beam [5] or protons [6] and studied using a single SPAD (Single Photon Avalanche Diode, i.e. a single pixel of a SiPM), in the last case with outstanding time resolution [7]. Recently the charged particle detection with SPADs was also studied with a simulation [8].…”