Professor Tony Weidberg

Abstract:

This paper reports the radiation hardness of optical components to be used in the binary readout of one of the next generation of detectors in high energy physics. The optical components will have to sustain a total ionising dose of 500 kGy and a 1 MeV equivalent neutron fluence of 10(15)n cm(-2). Emitters of VCSEL type have been chosen and have shown a shift of 1 mA in the laser threshold current after irradiation, but are still suitable for our purpose. The epitaxial Si PIN photodiode receivers have an acceptable 30% drop in responsivity providing a higher reverse bias is applied. Speed and lifetime of both components appear to be unaffected by the radiation damage. Temperature characteristics showing differences from un-irradiated materials will be also presented.

Abstract:

The ATLAS experiment is currently in the final pre-production design phase to allow timely installation at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in 2005. The sub-systems closest to the interaction point - the tracking detectors, will be subject to significant total radiation dose at high flux. Optical data transmission has been chosen for the Pixel and SemiConductor Tracker (SCT) to both deliver timing and control information to the detector modules and transmit tracking data to the remote counting room Of considerable concern is the radiation hardness, both transient and total dose, of not just the optoelectronic components but also the driver/receiver electronics. In this paper we report on total dose radiation testing of the VCSEL driver and photodiode receiver ASICs designed using a range of techniques in a nominally radiation-soft process. Both ASICs will be shown to be tolerant to a total gamma dose of 100kGy and a total neutron fluence (1 MeV equiv.) of 2x10(14) n/cm(2), as required for this system. Single-event upset (SEU) studies have also been carried out using a high-energy pion beam, showing the system to be sufficiently robust to SEU at an ATLAS-Like particle flux.

Abstract:

Optical data transmission has been chosen for the ATLAS Pixel and SemiConductor Tracker to deliver both timing and control information to the detector modules and transmit tracking data to the remote computer room. Radiation hardness of individuals optical components and their ASICs drivers have been reported in previous papers. We will report here the Single Event Upset studies carried out on a customised optopackage using a high-energy pion beam. It will be shown that the system is sufficiently robust to SEU at the ATLAS SCT level.

Abstract:

We study the radiation hardness and the lifetime of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser diodes (VCSELs) in the context of the development of the optical readout for the ATLAS SemiConductor Tracker (SCT) at LHC. About 170 LEDs from two different manufacturers and about 130 VCSELs were irradiated with neutron and proton fluences equivalent to (and in some cases more than twice as high as) the combined neutral and charged particle fluence of about 5×1014 n (1 MeV eq. in GaAs)/cm2 expected in the ATLAS inner detector. We report on the radiation damage and the conditions required for its partial annealing under forward bias, we calculate radiation damage constants, and we present post-irradiation failure rates for LEDs and VCSELs. The lifetime after irradiation was investigated by operating the diodes at an elevated temperature of 50 °C for several months, resulting in operating times corresponding to up to 70 years of operation in the ATLAS SCT. From our results we estimate the signal-to-noise ratio and the failure rate of optical links using LEDs developed specifically for application at LHC.