Speaker
Description
Since the pioneering proposal of the Low Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) concept, IMB-CNM has played a fundamental role in the development of this technology over the years. LGADs have demonstrated outstanding performance in the detection of high-energy charged particles, thanks to their proportional response, high efficiency, wide spectral range, and improved sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio, both enhanced by the internal gain. As a result, LGADs have been selected to populate the timing layers of the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the High-Luminosity LHC.
This presentation explores how the LGAD concept can be adapted to address future challenges in particle and photon detection. In particular, we present recent advances at IMB-CNM on inverse and trench-isolated inverse LGAD designs, developed to overcome the small-pixel problem; the engineering of multiplication layer profiles to improve LGAD performance under high-fluence irradiation; and new designs aimed at detection in the soft X-ray and deep UV domains. These include the novel concept of LGADs fabricated on n-type substrates (nLGADs). In line with the objective of short-wavelength photon detection, our group has also been working on an innovative design incorporating a graphene electrode, a solution that extends the potential applications of LGADs to dark matter experiments.