Characterisation of radiation damage in silicon photomultipliers with a Monte Carlo model

TL;DR

This study uses a Monte Carlo model to analyze radiation damage effects in silicon photomultipliers, revealing how irradiation impacts their performance parameters relevant for high-luminosity experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a Monte Carlo simulation approach to characterize radiation damage in SiPMs and correlates experimental irradiation effects with device performance degradation.

Findings

Radiation increases dark pulse rate in SiPMs.

Higher doses reduce photon detection efficiency.

Damage causes gain non-uniformity among pixels.

Abstract

Measured response functions and low photon yield spectra of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) were compared to multi-photoelectron pulse-height distributions generated by a Monte Carlo model. Characteristic parameters for SiPM were derived. The devices were irradiated with 14 MeV electrons at the Mainz microtron MAMI. It is shown that the first noticeable damage consists of an increase in the rate of dark pulses and the loss of uniformity in the pixel gains. Higher radiation doses reduced also the photon detection efficiency. The results are especially relevant for applications of SiPM in fibre detectors at high luminosity experiments.