TCAD simulation of small-pitch 3D sensors for pixel detector upgrades at High Luminosity LHC

Abstract Applications at the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) have required the development of a new generation of 3D pixel sensors with increased pixel granularity, extreme radiation hardness and low material budget. To this purpose, new 3D pixels have small pitch (e.g., 50×50 or 25×100 μm2) and reduced active thickness (∼100 μm). Owing to the small inter-electrode spacing (∼28 μm in the most aggressive designs). These 3D pixels are expected to be radiation hard even after irradiation at the hadron fluences. Indeed, they are of interest for the innermost tracking layers of ATLAS and CMS (∼2×1016 neq cm−2), and beyond. In order to estimate the charge collection efficiency (CCE) after irradiation, TCAD simulations can be conveniently used, providing useful information for the optimization of sensor design and fabrication technology. Within the AIDA-2020 project, with reference to the new single-sided 3D technology from FBK (Trento, Italy), we have simulated the CCE of pixel sensors with different inter-electrode spacing irradiated at different fluences. For these simulations, a 2D domain was used, consisting of a horizontal slice taken at half the depth of a 3D sensor. Simulations consider the hit of a minimum ionizing particle, described by the Heavy Ion model at different points within the active area. In addition, bulk radiation damage is accounted by using advanced deep-level trap models. This paper reports a comprehensive description of the simulation results based on a radiation model validated by comparison to experimental results from n-in-p strip detectors at 248 K and 900 V bias.