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This work deals with the development of a new gamma detector based on Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) to read out large (3"×3") LaBr3:Ce scintillators for gamma-ray spectroscopy for astronomy applications, an activity supported by European Space Agency (ESA). SDDs, characterized by high quantum efficiency and low electronic noise, are good candidates in applications with a wide energy range of gamma rays to be detected from 150keV to 15MeV. A first prototype is under development with the aim to achieve an energy resolution of 3% FWHM at 662 keY. The SDDs are designed as monolithic arrays of 3×3 units, each one of an active area of 8 mm × 8 mm (total array area of 26 mm × 26 mm).To cover the large surface of the 3"×3" LaBr3:Ce scintillator the modules are expected to be arranged in a 3×3 matrix, for a total of 81 SDDs read out by a custom developed electronics. In this work we will report on the design issues of this detector and on the first experimental results obtained in gamma-ray spectroscopy with a 1"×1" LaBr3:Ce scintillator.

In the past few years, very important progress has been made in the development of silicon 3D detectors, passing from the R&D phase with performance demonstration of a few prototypes to an industrialization phase, which led to the first production of 3D sensors to cover 25% of the ATLAS Insertable B-Layer (IBL) staves. Double-side 3D sensor technology developed at FBK (Trento, Italy) in collaboration with INFN proved successful to yield good quality detectors for the IBL. In spite of the good performance of the IBL sensors, it is possible to further improve the electrical characteristics of these devices while reducing the fabrication complexity and therefore the time required for a medium volume production. To this purpose, with the aid of TCAD simulations, we have investigated some modifications at both the layout and fabrication level aimed at improving the sensor breakdown voltage, both before and after irradiation, while reducing the number of lithographic steps required during fabrication. This paper reports on simulation results and preliminary experimental results from a new batch of 3D sensors implementing the proposed improvements.