Performance Evaluation of the FASTPIX Silicon Pixel Sensor Technology Demonstrator for High-Precision Tracking and Timing

The advancement of particle physics through current and future collider facilities pushes the boundaries of technology in HEP instrumentation. Experiments at the energy and intensity frontier focus on high-precision measurements of Standard Model physics and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. The physics programs and operational conditions at future colliders necessitate sophisticated improvements in all detector subsystems. Detectors in the inner layers of future experiments face stringent requirements, needing to detect single ionizing particles with small (< 25 𝜇m) pixels, achieving < 3 𝜇m spatial resolution, < 100 ps time resolution, minimal material budget, and extreme radiation tolerance. This dissertation focuses on advancing silicon vertex and tracking detectors for future high-energy physics collider detectors by demonstrating the performance of the monolithic silicon pixel sensor demonstrator FASTPIX, which was implemented in a modified 180 nm CMOS imaging process technology. The sensor features a small collection electrode design on a 25 𝜇m-thin sensitive detection layer with small pixels ranging from 8.66 𝜇m to20 𝜇m pitch. A large parameter space of 32 mini matrices with 68 pixels each assesses the performance impact of manufacturing-process modifications and sensor-design variations previously optimized in simulations. The sensor design includes hexagonal pixels with capacitances of a few femto-farads and large signal-to-noise ratios, enabling high detection efficiency and precise timing. The detector performance is characterized in laboratory and test beam measurements with associate developments of hardware and software for the employed test systems. Calibration measurement conclude in a nominal threshold of 60 e – 160 e with ≤15 e front-end noise and <10 Hz total noise rate across all matrices. Spatial resolutions down to 1 𝜇m for the smallest-pitch matrices, a timing precision of 100 ps– 150 ps for largest-pitch matrices as well as hit detection efficiencies >99 % are observed in test-beam for samples with process modifications for improved charge collection. The FASTPIX results match or surpass most analog performance requirements for future pixel detectors. A larger pixel-matrix size and the integration of full front-end and readout functionality can be envisaged for future HEP applications, taking advantage of advancements in smaller feature-size CMOS processes.