A comprehensive analysis of low-resistivity silicon radiation detectors

Low-resistivity materials have been proposed for the fabrication of radiation-hard solid-state particle detectors. A complete analysis of low-resistivity detector performance, including the estimate of charge collection efficiency, has been carried out by using a numerical device simulator, and compared with results expected from conventional, high-resistivity devices. By exploiting the features of the CAD environment, characterization of devices over a wide range of fluences and applied biases has been possible, avoiding the actual fabrication of prototypes, as well as lengthy and expensive testing procedures. Encouraging results have been obtained: low-resistivity devices appear to provide some definite advantages in terms of long-term performance optimization.