Abstract
Silicon sensors have been extensively exploited in high-energy physics experiments in the past 40 years, from their first use in NA11 at the SPS (CERN) to their application in the present-day design of very large particle trackers. The capability of silicon sensors to work in environments with high radiation levels has been of utmost importance for experiments at accelerating machines with very energetic and intense particle beams. Presently available silicon sensors can operate efficiently up to particle fluences of 2E16 particles/cm2, while future frontier accelerators envisage the use of silicon sensors in environments with fluences exceeding 5E17 particles/cm2. If not overcome, this gap will prevent the use of silicon sensors in future hadron-collider experiments.
The CompleX project aims at (i) understanding and modelling the mechanisms of radiation damage up to the fluence of 5E17/cm2 and (ii) designing, producing, and testing an innovative type of silicon sensor able to operate efficiently up to that fluence value. The innovative sensor design relies on the use of a thin active bulk, 20–40 μm, coupled with the mechanism of internal gain of 10–20 that will generate signals large enough to ensure detection up to the highest fluence. This breakthrough will become possible thanks to a new design of the implant responsible for signal multiplication, obtained by the compensation of p- and n-type dopants.
The results already achieved and the steps envisaged up to the project accomplishment will be presented and discussed.