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IMB-CNM talks: My Ph.D. thesis in a Nutshell - Sofia Otero, Ph.D.

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31 May 2019
11:30h
Sala de Actos Pepe Millán, IMB-CNM, Campus UAB.

An overview of my PhD thesis, entitled ‘Characterisation and Optimisation of Radiation Tolerant Silicon Sensors with Intrinsic Gain’, will be presented. The research work of this PhD thesis was performed in the framework of the RD50 Collaboration, and the CERN Doctoral Student Programme. The objective was to contribute to the development and characterisation of radiation tolerant silicon detectors for high luminosity colliders. The main focus was on silicon sensors for tracking applications within the HL-LHC experiments. Sensors with intrinsic charge multiplication are presently under investigation within RD50. In this thesis, Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) and Deep Diffused Avalanche Particle Detectors (DD-APDs) were studied, as they allow to multiply the charge generated by traversing particles. The subsequent increase in the signal produced by the detectors has the potential to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and with it the efficiency and the time resolution of the detectors. From a solid-state physics point of view, this thesis sheds light on the many phenomena occurring inside silicon devices after heavy irradiation, both with protons and neutrons. From the perspective of detector physics and detector technology, these findings will serve the HL-LHC and other experiments as guidelines for considering the use of devices with intrinsic gain for tracking, calorimetry, or timing applications.