Characterisation and Simulation of CMOS Strip Sensors

With future collider upgrades and proposals on the horizon, High Energy Physics (HEP) requires silicon sensor technologies that provide large-area coverage and cost efficiency for particle tracking detectors. This thesis investigates a stitched Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor (CMOS) strip sensor prototype as an alternative silicon sensor concept for large-area tracking detectors. CMOS imaging technology, being a standardised industry process, could provide access to fast and large-scale production from various vendors. The electrical characterisation of the prototype demonstrates full functionality of all three sensor layouts investigated. Consequently, the tracking performance of the sensor was tested in a particle beam environment at the DESY II test beam facility, using both unirradiated and irradiated samples. The performance evaluation shows that the stitching technique does not affect the spatial resolution or efficiency of the strip sensor. Moreover, the Regular strip implant shows the most stable performance before and after irradiation compared to its Low Dose variants. Based on the observed performance differences, the sensor layouts are further investigated by simulating the device behaviour with finite element simulation using Tcad. The Tcad simulated internal doping concentration and electric field distributions then form the basis to simulate the sensor response using Monte Carlo simulations within the ALLPIX2 framework. The resulting simulations reflect the electrical characteristics of the sensor and reproduce the performance differences observed in the data. The results of the combined simulation approach suggest design-dependent effects that may explain the observed performance differences. With further refinement, the presented simulation chain provides a promising tool to study parameter variations in the sensor designs in view of future tracking detector concepts.