Search

TOTEM will measure the total pp cross-section at LHC by using a luminosity independent method based on simultaneous evaluation of the total elastic and inelastic rates. For an extended coverage of the inelastic and diffractive events, two forward tracking telescope are employed. The elastically or diffractively scattered protons are measured by a set of special detectors, which can be moved close to the circulating protons beams. The paper describes the physics reach of the experiment and the detectors which are being considered.

Radiation hard monolithic particle sensors can be fabricated by a vertical integration of amorphous silicon particle sensors on top of CMOS readout chip. Two types of such particle sensors are presented here using either thick diodes or microchannel plates. The first type based on amorphous silicon diodes exhibits high spatial resolution due to the short lateral carrier collection. Combination of an amorphous silicon thick diode with microstrip detector geometries permits to achieve micrometer spatial resolution beneficial for high accuracy beam positioning. Microchannel plates based on amorphous silicon were successfully fabricated and multiplication of electrons was observed. This material may solve some of the problems related to conventional microchannel devices. Issues, potential and limits of these detectors are presented and discussed.

Monolithic integration of sensing devices usually requires sharing the CMOS chip floor space between sensors and their readout electronics. Vertical integration of the sensor on top of the electronics allows one to have the full chip area dedicated to sensing. For light detection, the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) photodiodes on top of CMOS readout circuits offers several advantages compared to standard CMOS imagers. The issues regarding the design of a-Si:H photodiodes, their integration and the influence of the CMOS chip design (i.e. its surface morphology) on a-Si:H diode performance are discussed. Examples of TFA sensors for vision and particle detection are also presented.