Speaker
Description
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 state-of-the-art Geiger-mode APDs, also known as single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), for the detection of minimum ionizing particles (MIPs) and optical photons with best-in-class timing resolution. The SPADs were implemented in standard CMOS technology and integrated with on-chip quenching and recharge circuitry. By using a femtosecond laser a SPAD in coincidence with a fast photodiode showed a timing resolution of 12 ps FWHM. For the MIPs two SPADs in coincidence allowed to measure the time-of-flight of 180 GeV/c momentum pions with a coincidence time resolution of 22 ps FWHM (9.4 ps Gaussian sigma). This measurement paves the road to a new generation of low-cost beam trackers with extremely high timing and spatial resolution. Radiation hardness measurements are also presented here, highlighting the suitability of this family of devices for a wide range of high-energy physics (HEP) applications.
