Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A 980 (2020) 164403 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nima Design of large scale sensors in 180 nm CMOS process modified for radiation tolerance L. Flores Sanz de Acedo a,b ,∗, I. Asensi Tortajada a,h , M. Barbero c , I. Berdalovic i , C. Bespin d , D. Bortoletto e , C. Buttar b , I. Caicedo d , R. Cardella a , F. Dachs a , V. Dao a , Y. Degerli f , M. Dyndal a , P. Freeman a,g , A. Habib c , T. Hemperek d , T. Hirono d , T. Kugathasan a , K. Moustakas d , M. Munker a , H. Pernegger a , F. Piro a , P. Riedler a , P. Rymaszewski d , E.J. Schioppa a , P. Schwemling f , A. Sharma a,e , L. Simon Argemi b , W. Snoeys a , C. Solans Sanchez a , T. Wang d , N. Wermes d a CERN, Geneva, Switzerland b University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK c Aix Marseille University, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany University of Oxford, Oxford, UK f CEA-IRFU, Paris, France g University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK h University of Valencia and Consejo Superior de Investigaci Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain i University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia d e ARTICLE INFO Keywords: CMOS sensors Tracking detectors Monolithic sensors MAPS On-chip clustering ABSTRACT The last couple of years have seen the development of Depleted Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (DMAPS) fabricated with a process modification to increase the radiation tolerance. Two large scale prototypes, Monopix with a column drain synchronous readout, and MALTA with a novel asynchronous architecture, have been fully tested and characterized both in the laboratory and in test beams. This showed that certain aspects have to be improved such as charge collection after irradiation and the output data rate. Some improvements resulting from extensive TCAD simulations were verified on a small test chip, Mini-MALTA. A detailed cluster analysis, using data from laboratory and test beam studies, at different biases, for high and low thresholds and before and after irradiation is presented, followed by detailed simulations showing that the digital architecture for both chips is capable of dealing with data rates of around 80 MHz/cm2 similar to what it is expected in the outer layer of the ATLAS inner tracker upgrade for the HL-LHC. The data rate capability and output bandwidth are studied using realistic hits generated by the ATLAS detector simulation framework. 1. Evolution of DMAPS CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) targeting High Energy Physics experiments have to meet requirements different from typical commercial applications, and need to be tolerant to the hard radiation environments in which they are placed. Particles traversing the sensor have to be detected with a probability above 98%, which requires sensitivity over the full pixel area. Spatial resolution is another important aspect. Finally, these sensors have to cover large areas making low power consumption a key factor. In 2014, the ALICE experiment in the LHC adopted the ALPIDE CMOS MAPS sensor implemented in the Tower Jazz 180 nm technology CMOS imaging sensor process for a renewed Pixel Inner Tracking System [1]. A schematic drawing of the cross section of this sensor is shown in the first image of Fig. 1. Its promising measurement results received interest from the ATLAS ITk community and a group inside this experiment was created in order to develop sensors that could meet specifications for the outer layer of the ATLAS pixel detector. The specifications that were the hardest to achieve were the radiation tolerance of 500 MRad for ionizing doses and 1015 MeV πππ βcm2 fluence. This effort resulted in the submission of an engineering run in July 2017 [2,3] with the MALTA and Monopix sensors, as shown in the second box of the timeline. These two sensors, of 2 × 2 cm2 and 1 × 2 cm2 respectively, have very similar front-end electronics but different ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: leyre.flores.sanz.de.acedo@cern.ch (L. Flores Sanz de Acedo). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2020.164403 Received 15 March 2020; Received in revised form 21 June 2020; Accepted 8 July 2020 Available online 18 July 2020 0168-9002/© 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V. L. Flores Sanz de Acedo, I. Asensi Tortajada, M. Barbero et al. Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A 980 (2020) 164403 Table 1 Main characteristics of MALTA and MONOPIX sensors. MONOPIX MALTA Sensor size 2 μm collection diode and 3 μm spacing 2 μm collection diode and 3 μm spacing Pixel size 36 × 40 μm2 36.4 × 36.4 μm2 Readout type Column drain architecture Asynchronous readout Fabrication process Standard modified process with continuous n-blanket Standard modified process with continuous n-blanket Time resolution 6 bits TOA and TOT Hits available in the periphery according to timewalk the pixels [6], especially for the irradiated sensors. The CMOS circuitry for all the sensors is located inside the deep-p-well and the charge collection is done at a small n-type electrode. The sensor capacitance of the order of a few fF allows for power optimization and large signal to noise ratio. The MALTA and Monopix prototypes already included a process modification with respect to the ALPIDE [7]. In the ALPIDE it is difficult to extend laterally the depletion region far into the epitaxial layer in between the low resistivity substrate and the deep p-well, as this requires a potential gradient or an electric field in between two equipotentials. Therefore, the charge collection time is limited by diffusion and it takes several tens of nanoseconds to reach the electrode. In MALTA and Monopix, a low dose n-implant layer was added to move the junction of the sensor away from the small collection electrode and create a fully planar junction. As the depletion of the sensor starts at the junction the sensor is immediately depleted over the full pixel area (see Fig. 3(a)). Increasing the reverse bias causes the depletion to extend towards the collection electrode and to the substrate. Therefore, the epitaxial layer can be fully depleted. The process modification with this additional low dose n-implant is known as the standard modified process. The implant is sufficiently low dose to fully deplete from the collection electrode to the n-well collection electrode implant for reverse bias voltages of a few Volts and to maintain the collection electrode capacitance of only a few fF. This n-type layer also separates the deep p-well of the pixel circuit from the p-type substrate. The main objective of this process modification was to achieve full depletion and therefore charge collection by drift rather than by diffusion. Nevertheless, after testing sensors irradiated to levels of 1015 MeV πππ βcm2 , it was found that the charge was not collected from the corner of the electrode, Fig. 2 shows the efficiency maps of a 2 × 2 pixel region of the MALTA chip. Before irradiation, the efficiency is around 98% but after it drops due to the charge loss at the corner of the pixels due to a too low lateral electric field near the pixel borders (see Fig. 2). In January 2019, a new prototype chip was designed with a number of process variations to address issues identified in the MALTA chip, the Mini-MALTA. The Mini-MALTA chip matrix contains 64 × 16 square pixels with a pitch size of 36.4 μm, keeping it the same as in MALTA. The full chip size is 1.7 × 5 mm2 including both the matrix and all the periphery with the digital circuitry. Inside the Mini-MALTA sensor there are 8 different pixel flavours, differing in analog front-end designs, reset mechanism and electrode/well geometries as detailed in Fig. 4(a). The matrix is divided in two halves where the right-hand side of it the transistor size has been kept at the same dimensions as was used in the MALTA and Monopix designs. For the left half of the matrix critical transistors for the front-end performance have been enlarged. This is to mitigate the significant Random Telegraph Noise (RTS) measured on Malta, which prevented low threshold operation. This noise is caused by a change in charge state of a trap or defect under or near the transistor gate. This abruptly changes the threshold voltage of the transistor and hence its current. By enlarging the transistor size, the total influence of the trapped charge is smaller reducing the fluctuations. The enlarged transistors are the current source that absorbs the current going to the input transistor and the clipping one even though this last one has no direct influence to the RTS noise. The Mini-Malta FE is explained in detail in paper [5]. Another important effect of this change in size of the critical transistors is that the gain of the amplifier for this half of the matrix becomes higher due to a lower output conductance of the enlarged transistor. The higher gain and the lower noise allow operation at lower thresholds, facilitating the detection of charge in the corners previously left undetected. In Mini-MALTA, the above discussed process variations are emulated using mask variations for different sectors in the matrix. The extra deep p-well modification is shown in Fig. 3(c) (top). In this, the standard modified process from TowerJazz has been further modified with an additional deep p-type implant under the deep p-well. Fig. 3(b) (top) represents the cross-section of the n-well gap sector of MiniMALTA for which the low dose n-blanket mask has been modified readout architectures. Monopix is based on a classical column drain architecture, in which a token is continuously propagated from top to bottom along each column of the pixel matrix. If the token gets to a pixel that has seen a hit, it starts the readout mechanism that will take information out to the end of column logic. The MALTA chip implements a novel asynchronous readout scheme to reduce digital power consumption and increase the hit rate capability in the matrix. When the hit signal is above the discrimination threshold, the in-pixel circuit generates a digital pulse of 1 ns, used as asynchronous reference to encode the pixel address on a 22 bits bus. There are some mechanisms in place to avoid collisions in the bus. This fully asynchronous readout does not require clock distribution over the matrix. Main characteristics of both chips are described in Table 1. Despite the hard work to increase the radiation tolerance levels of these chips, going from the ALICE fluence of 1013 MeV πππ βcm2 to the ATLAS one, measurements showed a loss in efficiency at the corner of pixels for these large-scale prototypes after a 1015 MeV πππ βππ2 irradiation [4]. This is illustrated in the third image of Fig. 1 which shows the efficiency map for a 2 × 2 pixel array of an irradiated MALTA sensor, obtained from the SPS test beam using the Kartel telescope, which provides a resolution of around 2 μm on the device under test. This can also be observed in Fig. 2 which shows that the pixel is fully efficient in the centre but not in the corners where the detection efficiency drops to 20%–30%. To improve these results further modifications on the processing of the Tower Jazz 180 nm technology were introduced and tested in a prototype chip called Mini-MALTA [5]. The Mini-MALTA was submitted in September of 2018 and proved to be radiation hard up to 1015 MeV πππ βcm2 as measured with an electron beam. It also included some design changes in the analog front-end pixel, targeting noise reduction and lower threshold operation. The fourth image in Fig. 1 shows the floorplan of the chip and the efficiency map of an irradiated sensor. Eventually, in order to increase the charge induced to the pixel, some samples were produced on Czochralski silicon wafers, illustrated in the 5th image in Fig. 1. The signal generated in the sensor is proportional to the thickness of the sensitive layer. MALTA and Monopix had always been fabricated using a p-type substrate with a high resistivity epitaxial layer of 25–30 μm thickness, which constitutes the sensitive layer and can be fully depleted at low voltages. By moving to high resistivity Czochralski material for the fabrication of the MALTA sensor the sensitive volume can be considerably increased for higher reverse biases compensating at least in part the higher noise and higher charge threshold. Measurements of Malta revealed Random Telegraphic (RTS) Noise that prevented the operation of the chip at low thresholds. The front-end was modified in Mini-Malta to correct for this as will be further explained in the paper. As illustrated in the final block of the timeline in Fig. 1, a new submission of the MALTA and the Monopix is planned for the first semester of 2020 incorporating the good design techniques learnt during these past developments. 2. Pixel and process modifications and front-end improvements This challenge of efficiency loss in the corner of the pixel triggered extensive TCAD simulations. The goal was to enlarge the lateral electrical field and hence to accelerate the charge collection at the edge of 2 L. Flores Sanz de Acedo, I. Asensi Tortajada, M. Barbero et al. Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A 980 (2020) 164403 Fig. 1. Time line of CMOS MAPS developments. Fig. 2. Efficiency map of a 2 × 2 pixel region of the Malta chip, in the right before irradiation for 250 electrons threshold and in the left after 1015 MeV πππ βcm2 fluence for a 350 electrons threshold. operate at lower thresholds so smaller charges can be detected by the electrodes. Centring the attention on the un-irradiated cluster size map in Fig. 4(b) it is clear that the standard modified process regardless of the transistor size shows a larger cluster size in average than the sectors with the further modifications. This is because in the standard modified process the lateral electrical field at the corners is much less directive towards the electrode. The further modifications make the field focus more to the electrode and reducing the probability for charge sharing. Finally Fig. 4(c) shows that after irradiation the average cluster size decreases considerably. There is no real difference in the cluster size for the half with the original transistor size because the sensor is operating at high-threshold settings to not be dominated by the noise. For the half with enlarged transistors, the n-well gap sector have larger cluster sizes than the standard modified process sector because the charge is better directed to the electrode and reaches it before being trapped, while a significant fraction of the charge is lost for the standard modified process. A completely different idea from the process and masks modifications to improve the charge collection was tried. So far all the wafers had been fabricated using a p-type substrate with a high resistivity epitaxial layer of 25–30 μm, which is the sensitive volume where the signal is generated. However, for the last Monopix/MALTA run also some high resistivity Czochralski starting material has been included to increase the sensitive volume by further depletion of the substrate. Czochralski is the standard method to grow single crystalline silicon and it is only recently that it has become available with higher resistivity. Some of the wafers fabricated with the new starting material also have the extra deep p-well, others the gap in the n-blanket and others the continuous n-blanket but for all of them the critical transistor size was kept the same as in the original designs. A similar analysis of the average cluster size seen per pixel in these new wafers was performed and it is shown in Fig. 5. The data was taken in DESY electron test beam with the following conditions: both of the irradiated chips were biased with −50 V in the substrate and −6 V in to include a gap. The purpose of both changes is to improve charge collection for charge generated near the pixel edges by creating a stronger lateral field which focuses the generated charge (electrons) to the collection electrode. For the standard modified process the lateral electrical field at the corner of the pixel is so low that some of the charge deposited there does not reach the collection electrode after irradiation, as shown in Fig. 3(a) (bottom). However, with the extra deep p-well and the gap in the low dose n-implant, the electrical field at the corners bends more towards the electrode allowing the collection of the previously lost charge. This effect is illustrated in Fig. 3(c) and (b) (bottom). The sensor was extensively tested in both lab and test beam to determine how all the changes implemented behave. Fig. 4 shows the cluster analysis of the sensor before and after irradiation for each of the different regions. No results are shown for the sector with PMOS reset as the bias of the matrix is global and the operating point of this region differs from the other ones. This sector received a continuous low dose n-implant and the only difference in the circuits is that the reset of the pixel is done with a p-mos transistor instead of a diode for the other sectors. The cluster analysis was performed with data taken in the electron beam of ELSA (Bonn). The bias is common to the full chip and it is set to −2 V in the p-well and −12 V in the substrate. Nonetheless, the thresholds differ from the areas with the enlarged transistors to the areas with the smaller ones. With the enlarged transistors, there is a change in the gain of the front-end amplifier so the threshold varies. In Fig. 4 the threshold of the right-hand side of the chip is measured to around 200 π− while for the left side this is approximately 350 π− . During operation the chip was kept in a cold box with dry ice. These settings are similar before and after irradiation. Analysing the results, it can be seen that before and after irradiation the sectors with enlarged transistors always show a bigger cluster size than the ones with the original transistor size. This can be explained by the higher amplifier gain and lower RTS noise that allow the sensor to 3 L. Flores Sanz de Acedo, I. Asensi Tortajada, M. Barbero et al. Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A 980 (2020) 164403 Fig. 3. From left to right: standard modified process, process modification and new mask with gap in the n-well and extra deep p-well cross section in the upper images and electrical field lines in the images below. Fig. 4. On the left the Mini-MALTA sectors are described, in the middle the average cluster size for un-irradiated sensor and on the right the average cluster size for a 1015 MeV πππ βcm2 irradiated sensor (data from ELSA test beam). the p-well which gave an operating threshold of 296 electrons for the standard modified process and 366 electrons for the one with the gap in the n-layer. The un-irradiated chips were operated at −25 V in the substrate and −6 V in the p-well for the standard modified process and at −12 V in the substrate and −6 V in the p-well for the n-well gap which corresponds to a 373 electrons threshold. The average cluster size is considerably larger for Czochralski wafers than for the epitaxial starting material ones, before and after irradiation. The cluster size in average is larger in the corner of the pixels than in the centre of them, as expected, and similar to the Mini-MALTA sensor, the cluster size significantly reduces after irradiation. Finally in Fig. 5, comparing b with c and a with d illustrates that wafers with the n-well gap show larger clusters than the ones with the continuous n-blanket implant. them off-chip without losing any information. This is essential from the chip design point of view to estimate the area needed for this memory. The simulation was carried out in a python framework using standard libraries and taking into account the following considerations. The worst expected trigger rate is 4 MHz according to ATLAS pixel detector specifications document. Hence, trigger events were generated according to a Poisson distribution with average 10, as the collision rate is 40 MHz so 10 times higher than the trigger rate. The detector expected hits were generated and provided by the experiment, in their own simulation framework called Athena, in which the geometry and correct pixel dimensions for the Malta detector are taken into consideration. The chip has 512 × 512 pixels. For the simulation, it is assumed there will be a memory for every 32 columns, so a total number of 16 memories to cover the 512 columns. This could be further optimized, but Fig. 6 is calculated according to these numbers. Finally, as the readout capability of the chip is the critical parameter, several readout rates have been studied. If the readout rate is fast enough to cope with the expected hit-rate, the number of addresses occupied per memory should remain constant on average regardless of the number of events that have been triggered. On the other hand, if the readout rate of the chip is not high enough, the number of addresses required in the memory will linearly increase with the number of triggered events, as the readout is not capable to read and empty the memory. Fig. 6 shows that the minimum readout rate of the chip should be 1 hit/ BCID. It can also be observed that for this readout rate the 3. Data rate capabilities and memory simulations The ATLAS experiment at CERN plans to upgrade its Inner Tracker System in order to go from a luminosity of 1 × 1014 cm2 s−1 to 7.5 × 1034 cm2 s−1 . Monolithic pixel detectors were proposed for the outermost layer of the ATLAS pixel detector. The average hit rate for this layer according to simulations is 80 MHz/cm2 , equivalent to a maximum of 8 hits per bunch crossing per chip. A simulation was carried out in order to estimate the size of the memory that will be needed in order to store all the meaningful events before transmitting 4 L. Flores Sanz de Acedo, I. Asensi Tortajada, M. Barbero et al. Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A 980 (2020) 164403 Fig. 5. From left to right in pixel cluster size for Cz n-well gap un-irradiated, Cz standard un-irradiated, Cz standard irradiated and Cz ngap irradiated both to 1015 MeV πππ βcm2 . Fig. 6. Memory positions variation according to the number of events that have been triggered. total number of addresses for all the 16 memories should be around 200. Clusterizing the data inside the chip could significantly reduce the number of required memory addresses because the pixels related to one hit would be grouped and stored more efficiently. The small peaks observed, for example after 570 triggered events or at the very end after 1100 triggered events, correspond to a delta ray passing through column and creating a hit in a large number of pixels. Some chips have mechanisms in place to prevent these types of events creating issues in the readout. To convert this readout rate into a real data rate the number of bits of the word containing all the pixel information is needed. For the simulation presented, this word will be composed of 9 bits specifying the bunch crossing identifier, 11 bits for the address of the pixel that has been hit and 16 bits with the time over threshold information, which makes a total of 32 bits. Therefore, as the serializer should be running at 1.28 Gbps, this corresponds to a readout rate of 1 hit per bunch crossing. The graph shows that indeed this readout rate is just sufficient to deal with the hit rate, as the required memory size does not increase with the number of triggered event but remains stable below 200 memory positions (see Fig. 6). than the seed pixel can therefore more easily exceed the charge threshold and in consequence Czochralski material yields larger cluster sizes than epitaxial starting material. The cluster size for different pixel flavours varies in a similar way as for the epitaxial starting material. Data rate simulations for the ATLAS outer pixel layer show very little margin in bandwidth and the need for readout at minimum 1.28 Gbps. A new engineering run foreseen for the first semester of 2020 will integrate the improvements presented here. The reticle will include: • 10 new Mini-MALTA prototypes to study further improvements in the front end and in the radiation capabilities of the technology • A Malta sensor, 1 × 2 cm2 , which will include the process, mask and pixel modifications, as well as a new configuration protocol. Its asynchronous readout architecture allows further study of timing applications at the level of a few ns. • A Monopix, 2 × 2 cm2 , with similar corrections to the ones implemented on Malta, plus in-pixel tuning. Readout rate capabilities of 1.28 Gbps and classical synchronous column drain digital architecture. 4. Conclusions and current developments Declaration of competing interest As presented in this paper, there is a clear path on how to proceed to make a Depleted Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor more radiation tolerant: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. • Pixel and further process modifications (extra deep p-well and n-well gap) in Mini-MALTA reduce charge loss at the corner of pixels, because they have a more directive electrical field to the collection electrode and therefore yield better efficiency. Cluster sizes after irradiation are larger in comparison to the standard modified process where more charge was lost near the pixel corners. • Czochralski material can be depleted over a larger depth and generates more signal for all pixels in a cluster. Pixels other Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge CERN for providing funding for my scholarship and the University of Glasgow for waiving my tuition fees. The work presented has as well been supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network of the European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme under contract number 675587 (STREAM). The measurements leading to these results have been 5 L. Flores Sanz de Acedo, I. Asensi Tortajada, M. Barbero et al. Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A 980 (2020) 164403 performed at the TestBeam Facility at DESY Hamburg (Germany), a member of the Helmholtz Association (HGF). Measurements leading to these results have been performed at the E3 beam-line at the electron accelerator ELSA operated by the university of Bonn in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement no. 654168. (IJS, Ljubljana, Slovenia) Dr. Ben Phoenix, Prof. David Parker and the operators at the MC40 cyclotron in Birmingham (UK). [3] I. Caicedo, et al., The Monopix chips: Depleted monolithic active pixel sensors with a column-drain read-out architecture for the ATLAS Inner Tracker upgrade, http://cds.cern.ch/record/2665944/files/1902.03679.pdf. [4] Enrico Junior Schioppa, et al., First tests of a novel radiation hard CMOS sensor process for Depleted Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors, http://iopscience.iop.org/ 1748-0221/12/06/P06008. [5] M. Dyndal, et al., Mini-MALTA: Radiation hard pixel designs for small-electrode monolithic CMOS sensors for the High Luminosity LHC, J. Instrum. 15 (2020) P02005, [1909.11987]. [6] M. Munker, et al., Simulations of CMOS pixel sensors with a small collection electrode, improved for a faster charge collection and increased radiation tolerance, J. Instrum. 14 (2019) C05013, [1903.10190]. [7] W. Snoeys, et al., A process modification for CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors for enhanced depletion, timing performance and radiation tolerance, Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 765 (2014) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.07.046. References [1] G. Aglieri Rinella, et al., The ALPIDE pixel sensor chip for the upgrade of the ALICE Inner Tracking System, Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 845 (2017) 583, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.05.016. [2] I. Berdalovic, et al., MALTA: a CMOS pixel sensor with asynchronous readout for the ATLAS High-Luminosity upgrade, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/ 8824349. 6
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