Hydrogenated amorphous silicon detectors for particle detection, beam flux monitoring and dosimetry in high-dose radiation environment

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) has remarkable radiation resistance properties and can be deposited on a lot of different substrates. A-Si:H based particle detectors have been built since mid 1980s as planar p-i-n or Schottky diode structures; the thickness of these detectors ranged from 1 to 50 micron. However MIP detection using planar structures has always been problematic due to the poor S/N ratio related to the high leakage current at high depletion voltage and the low charge collection efficiency. The usage of 3D detector architecture can be beneficial for the possibility to reduce inter-electrode distance and increase the thickness of the detector for larger charge generation compared to planar structures. Such a detector can be used for future hadron colliders for its radiation resistance and also for X-ray imaging. Furthermore the possibility of a-Si:H deposition on flexible materials (like kapton) can be exploited to build flexible and thin beam flux measurement detectors and x-ray dosimeters.