Low Gain Avalanche Detectors for the ATLAS High Granularity Timing Detector: Laboratory and test beam campaigns

Abstract

The High Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD) is designed for the mitigation of pile-up effects in the ATLAS forward region and for bunch per bunch luminosity measurements. HGTD, based on Low Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) technology and covering the pseudorapidity region between 2.4 and 4.0, will provide high precision timing information to distinguish between collisions occurring close in space but well-separated in time. Apart from being radiation resistant, LGAD sensors should deliver 30 ps time resolution per track for a minimum-ionizing particle (35 ps per hit) at the start of lifetime, increasing to 50 ps per track (70 ps per hit) at the end of HL-LHC operation. Each readout cell has a transverse size of 1.3×1.3 mm2 leading to a highly granular detector with about 3 millions of readout electronics channels. A dedicated ASIC for the HGTD detector, ALTIROC, is being developed in several phases producing prototype versions of 2×2, 5×5 and 15×15 channels. HGTD modules are hybrids of the LGAD and ALTIROC connected through flip-chip bump bonding process. Several test beam campaigns have been conducted at DESY and CERN SPS between 2021 and 2022. A summary of the results from LGAD-alone and hybrids will be presented.