Silicon Pad Array Detector Development for Electromagnetic Calorimeter Application

Silicon (Si) detectors are commonly used in nuclear and particle physics experiments due to their capability to precisely measure the energy, position, and time of the particles produced during the experiment. There are different types of silicon detectors fabricated (Si pads, Si pixels, Si strips, MAPs type etc.) based on the need of its applications in nuclear, particle and medical physics. The silicon detectors are mainly used in particle tracking and vertex detectors. A sandwich structure of a pad array coupled with high Z material such as tungsten, if arranged in layers, could be used as an electromagnetic calorimeter for measuring the energy and shower profile of high-energy electrons and gamma rays produced in collider experiments. In this context, Si pad array detectors are fabricated on a 6-inch Si wafer at Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bangalore. It is an array of 8 cm x 9 cm, consisting of 72 pad cells each with an active area of 1 cm x 1 cm. The article reports about the design, fabrication and test results of the Si pad array detector.