BNL - Alphacore Silicon Carbide Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (BASiC MAPS)

The Future Circular Collider (FCC) is the planned next-generation replacement of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It will require high precision vertex and tracking detectors capable of surviving in a very harsh radiation environment, up to two orders of magnitude beyond the boundaries of the LHC. The present most reliable solution, silicon Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) detectors, are unlikely to be able to meet the radiation immunity requirements of the FCC. Given the limitations of silicon material properties, MAPS fabricated using alternative semiconductor materials are of interest for high-radiation environments. A material of particular interest due to its excellent material properties and commercial availability is silicon carbide (SiC) which has several advantages compared to other materials, including diamond and GaN. We propose an innovative construction of an integrated detector and readout system on a SiC process technology designed for fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs). Such a process was developed by NASA for high-temperature applications (such as electronics for future Venus missions), and we plan to utilize this process to design a SiC MAPS prototype for very high radiation environments. The Phase I technical objectives are focused on demonstrating the feasibility of a) low-noise charge collection and readout using monolithic SiC pixels; b) using SiC MAPS to obtain radiation tolerance at total ionizing dose (TID) and particle fluence levels relevant to the FCC; and c) integrating SiC pixels into small-scale MAPS test structures. The tasks are: 1) Simulate and test the performance of charge sensors in the NASA SiC process, 2) Test existing SiC IC samples at high radiation levels, 3) Utilize baseline device models in the NASA process to design and simulate monolithic SiC MAPS pixels, 4) Develop modified post-radiation device models based on the radiation testing results, 5) Design, simulate, and layout a basic 32 x 32 pixel SiC MAPS chip in the NASA SiC process. The availability of SiC MAPS is of major importance for enabling fundamental physics in future HEP experiments. In addition, future commercial applications include high-value-added products for radiation detection and monitoring in harsh environments, such as nuclear reactors. The qualities found in SiC detectors make them intriguing devices for usage in a variety of domains, ranging from nuclear physics to astrophysics, in vivo dosimetry to beam monitoring, and monitoring hostile nuclear environments. SiC detectors can be employed for time of flight (TOF) measurements of high energy laser-driven beams, and are proposed as diagnostic detectors in investigation of innovative radiotherapy strategies and novel technologies for radiation dosimetry and beam monitoring, e.g. socalled “FLASH radiotherapy,” which makes use of ultra-high dose-rate (UHDR) beams for better preserving healthy tissues surrounding the tumor target, which is paving the way for the establishment of alternative radiation detection approaches.