Radiation Induced Effects in a Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor : The Mimosa8 Chip

TL;DR

This study investigates how ionizing and neutron irradiation affect the performance and defect structures of the MIMOSA8 monolithic active pixel sensor, highlighting differences in damage mechanisms and implications for radiation-hard design.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of ionizing and neutron radiation effects on MIMOSA8 sensors, emphasizing defect-induced pedestal shifts and leakage current increases without rad-tol layout.

Findings

Neutron damage causes pedestal shifts due to deep traps and extended defects.

Ionizing radiation increases pedestals homogeneously via interface states and oxide traps.

Leakage current increases after both types of irradiation.

Abstract

We have studied the effects of ionizing irradiation from a 60Co source and the effects of neutron irradiation on a Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor Chip(MIMOSA8). A previous report was devoted solely to the neutron-induced effects. We show that extended defects due to the neutron damage changes the distribution of the pixels pedestals. This is mainly due to the increase of the dark generation current due to the presence of deep traps in the depleted zones of the sensors. Alternatively, the exposure to ionizing irradiation increases the pedestals in a more homogeneous way, this coming from the generation of interface states at the Si/SiO2 interface supplemented by the presence of positively charged traps in the oxides. the sensors' leakage current is then increased. We discuss the results in view of increasing the radiation-hardness of the MAPS, bearing in mind that these chips were not designed with any rad-tol layout technique.