Three-dimensional trench electrode silicon detectors play an important role in particle physics research, nuclear radiation detection, and other fields. A novel polysilicon-fill-strengthened etch-through 3D trench electrode detector is proposed to address the shortcomings of traditional 3D trench electrode silicon detectors; for example, the distribution of non-uniform electric fields, asymmetric electric potential, and dead zone. The physical properties of the detector have been extensively and systematically studied. This study simulated the electric field, potential, electron concentration distribution, complete depletion voltage, leakage current, capacitance, transient current induced by incident particles, and weighting field distribution of the detector. It also systematically studied and analyzed the electrical characteristics of the detector. Compared to traditional 3D trench electrode silicon detectors, this new detector adopts a manufacturing process of double-side etching technology and double-side filling technology, which results in a more sensitive detector volume and higher electric field uniformity. In addition, the size of the detector unit is 120 µm × 120 µm × 340 µm; the structure has a small fully depleted voltage, reaching a fully depleted state at around 1.4 V, with a saturation leakage current of approximately $4.8\times {10}^{-10}\mathrm{A}$, and a geometric capacitance of about 99 fF.

In this study, a controllable equal-gap large-area silicon drift detector (L-SDD) is designed. The surface leakage current is reduced by reducing the SiO₂-Si interface through the new controllable equal-gap design. The design of the equal gap also solves the problem whereby the gap widens due to the larger detector size in the previous SDD design, which leads to a large invalid area of the detector. In this paper, a spiral hexagonal equal-gap L-SDD of 1 cm radius is selected for design calculation, and we implement 3D modeling and simulation of the device. The simulation results show that the internal potential gradient distribution of the L-SDD is uniform and forms a drift electric field, with the direction of electron drift pointing towards the collecting anode. The L-SDD has an excellent electron drift channel inside, and this article also analyzes the electrical performance of the drift channel to verify the correctness of the design method of the L-SDD.

A novel position-sensitive linear winding silicon drift detector (LWSDD) was designed and simulated. On the frontside (anode side), the collecting anodes were set on both sides of the detector, and an S-shaped linear winding cathode strip was arranged in the middle, which can realize independent voltage division and reduce the complexity of external bias resistor chain compared with the traditional linear silicon drift detector. The detectors were arranged in a butterfly shape, which increased the effective area of the detectors and improved the collection efficiency. The linear winding silicon drift detector can obtain one-dimensional position information by measuring the drift time of electrons. The 2D position information of the incident particle is obtained from the anodes coordinates of the readout signal. One-dimensional analytically exact solutions of electric potential and field were obtained for the first time for the linear winding silicon drift detector. The simulation results show that the electric potential distribution inside the detector is uniform, and the “drift channel” inside the detector points to the collecting anodes on both sides, which proves the reasonable and feasible design of the linear winding silicon drift detector.

This article proposes a novel three-dimensional trench electrode detector, named the through-type three-dimensional quasi-hemispherical electrode detector. The detector adopts a trench structure to package each independent unit and achieves complete penetration of trench electrodes with the help of an SOI substrate. The horizontal distances from the center anode of the detector to the trench cathode and the detector thickness are equal. It has a near-spherical structure and exhibits spherical-like electrical performance. In this study, we modeled the device physics of the new structure and conducted a systematic three-dimensional simulation of its electrical characteristics, including the electric field, electric potential, electron concentration distribution of the detector, the inducted current caused by incident ions, and the crosstalk between detector units. Computational and technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulation results show that the detector has an ultra-small capacitance (2.7 fF), low depletion voltage (1.4 V), and uniform electric field distribution. The trench electrodes electrically isolate the pixel units from each other so that the coherence effect between the units is small and can be applied in high-resolution X-ray photon counting detectors to enhance the contrast-to-noise ratio of low-dose imaging and the detection rate of tiny structures, among other things.

This paper proposes a sectional-chain silicon drift detector (SDD), featuring an elliptical-shaped voltage divider resistor chain, that can address the issue with traditional concentric ring SDDs, which cannot independently provide voltage division. The study replaces the conventional linear voltage divider with an elliptical structure, using its diversity geometry to improve the uniformity of the electric field distribution within the detector’s sensitive area, effectively solving the problem of distortions of edge electric fields and those between the SDD’s cathode rings in traditional structures. The relevant parameters of the elliptical resistor chain are calculated through formulas, which establish a quantitative relationship between the resistance values and the elliptical geometric dimensions, providing a theoretical basis for electric field uniformity control. A device physics model is then established using TCAD for simulation analysis to obtain key performance parameters: the electric potential and electric field distribution inside the detector, the spatial distribution of electron concentration in the detector bulk, and the electric potential gradient on the detector surface. These parameters provide a design reference for the application of high-performance SDDs in fields such as X-ray energy spectroscopy nuclear physics experiments and space radiation monitoring.

This article proposes a novel Punch Through Biased Silicon Drift Detector (PTBSDD) based on the concentric ring silicon drift detector . The biasing resistor chain is ion-implanted and is therefore internal. The biasing resistor chain occupies a very small area of the SDD surface, and its design separates the bias electrode from the voltage dividing of the resistor chain. Using the semiconductor device simulation software Sentaurus TCAD, we conducted preliminary electrical performance research on this Punch Through Biased SDD and obtained the following results: (1) the potential and electric field distributions of the PTBSDD; (2) the changes in the electron concentration profile in the drift channel within the detector as the operating voltage of the detector changes; (3) a comparison of the voltage gradient at the punch-through resistance chain with the voltage gradient at the drift ring; and (4) the simulation of the instant induced current curves before and after irradiation with a Heavy Ion incident on the detector.