G. Batignani

A Measurement of the Kaon Charge Radius

The negative kaon electromagnetic form factor has been measured in the space-like q 2 range 0.015–0.10 (GeV/ c ) 2 by the direct scattering of 250 GeV kaons from electrons at the CERN SPS. It is found that the kaon mean square charge radius 〈 r 2 K 〉 = 0.34 ± 0.05 fm 2 . From data collected simultaneously for πe scattering, the difference between the charged pion and kaon mean square radii (which is less sensitive to systematic errors) is found to be 〈 r 2 π 〉 − 〈 r 2 K = 0.1 0 ± 0.045 fm 2 .

Development and performance of double sided silicon strip detectors

Microstrip silicon detectors with orthogonal readout on opposite sides have been designed and fabricated. The active area of each device is 25 cm2 and the strip pitch is 25 μm on the junction side and 50 μm on the opposite ohmic side. A space resolution of 15 μm on the junction side (100 μm readout pitch) and 24 μm on the ohmic side (200 μm readout pitch) has been measured. We also report on AC-coupling chips, designed and fabricated in order to allow AC connection of the strips to the amplifiers. These chips are 6.4 × 5.0 mm2 and have 100 μm pitch. Both AC-couplers and detectors have been installed as part of the ALEPH minivertex.

Performance of a limited streamer tube hadron calorimeter

The energy response and the resolution of a hadron calorimeter test module prepared by the ALEPH collaboration at LEP have been studied between 5 and 50 GeV. The energy resolution for pions follows a 0.78√E law for orthogonally incident particles. Effects of different incident polar angles (θ = 90°, 60°, 50°) are studied. The wire readout and the trigger capability are also discussed.

Development of double side readout silicon strip detectors

Abstract Results of tests performed on a series of prototype silicon detectors with double side readout are presented. Electrical characteristics and particle data analysis indicate that these detectors can be operated in capacitive charge division with good spatial resolution on two orthogonal coordinates.

The ALEPH minivertex detector

Abstract Vertex detectors allow high precision reconstruction of particle tracks and therefore make possible the investigation of the decay topology of short-lived particles in collider experiments. In the ALEPH experiment at LEP a minivertex detector will be installed. It consists of silicon microstrip detectors arranged on two concentric “cylindrical” surfaces around the interaction point. With this geometry it will be possible to measure the r − ϕ − z coordinates of particles traversing the detector. The expected position resolution is 10 μm in r − ϕ and 20 μm in r − z . For optimum signal processing monolithic CMOS readout electronics are under development. Each chip consists of 60 charge sensitive preamplifiers, multiplexed into one output channel. Fast power switching will reduce heat dissipation. Details about construction and expected device performance will be described.

A fabrication process for silicon microstrip detectors with integrated front-end electronics

We report on an research and development activity aimed at the fabrication of silicon microstrip detectors with integrated front-end electronics to be used in high-energy physics and space experiments and medical/industrial imaging applications. A specially tailored fabrication technology has been developed at ITC-IRST (Trento, Italy), which allows for the production of single-sided microstrip detectors, with integrated coupling capacitors and polysilicon resistors, as well as active devices, including N-channel junction field effect transistors and N- or P-channel MOS transistors. The main characteristics of the fabrication process are outlined. Experimental results from the electrical characterization of the devices are reported, showing that transistors with good electrical figures can be obtained within the proposed technology while preserving the basic detector parameters.

JFET front-end circuits integrated in a detector-grade silicon substrate

This paper presents the design and experimental results relevant to front-end circuits integrated on detector-grade high resistivity silicon. The fabrication technology is made available by the Istituto per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica (ITC-IRST), Trento, Italy and allows using a common substrate for different kinds of active devices, such as N-channel JFETs and MOSFETs, and for pixel, microstrip, and PIN detectors. This research activity is being carried out in the framework of a project aiming at the fabrication of a multichannel mixed analog-digital chip for the readout of solid-state detectors integrated in the same substrate. Possible applications are in the field of medical and industrial imaging and space and high energy physics experiments. An all-JFET charge sensitive amplifier, which can use either a resistive or a nonresistive feedback network, has been characterized. The two configurations have been compared to each other, paying particular attention to noise performances, in view of the design of the complete readout channel. Operation capability in harsh radiation environment has been evaluated through exposure to /spl gamma/-rays from a /sup 60/Co source.

The associative memory for the self-triggered SLIM5 silicon telescope

Modern experiments search for extremely rare processes hidden in much larger background levels. As the experiment complexity, the accelerator backgrounds and luminosity increase we need increasingly exclusive selections to efficiently select the rare events inside the huge background. We present a fast, high-quality, track-based event selection for the self-triggered SLIM5 silicon telescope. This is an R&D experiment whose innovative trigger will show that high rejection factors and manageable trigger rates can be achieved using fine-granularity, low-material tracking detectors.

High-gain bipolar detector on float-zone silicon

Since the float-zone (FZ) silicon has lower contaminations and longer minority-carrier lifetime than those in Czochralski silicon and other semiconductor materials, it has potential advantages to fabricate bipolar detectors on the high-purity FZ silicon substrate to achieve a high gain at ultra-low-signal levels. The authors present preliminary experimental results on a bipolar detector fabricated on an unusual high-purity FZ silicon substrate. A backside gettering layer of phosphorus-doped polysilicon was employed to preserve the long carrier lifetime of the high-purity FZ silicon. The device has been investigated in the detection of a continuous flux of X-ray and infrared light. The bipolar detector with a circular emitter of 2 mm diameter has demonstrated high gains up to 3820 for 22 keV X-ray from a 1 mCi Cd radioactive source (the X-ray photon flux, received by the detector is estimated to be B7.77 � 10 4 /s). High gain up to 4400 for 0.17 nW light with a wavelength of 0.83mm has been observed for the same device. r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Feasibility studies of microelectrode silicon detectors with integrated electronics

Abstract We describe our experience on design and fabrication, on high-resistivity silicon substrates, of microstrip detectors and integrated electronics, devoted to high-energy physics experiments and medical/industrial imaging applications. We report on the full program of our collaboration, with particular regards to the tuning of a new fabrication process, allowing for the production of good quality transistors, while keeping under control the basic detector parameters, such as leakage current. Experimental results on JFET and bipolar transistors are presented, and a microstrip detector with an integrated JFET in source–follower configuration is introduced.