Wednesday 18 October 2017 

Speaker: Dr Iain Houghton (University of Manchester)


Title: "Fabrication and testing of large area 3D diamond detectors”

Abstract: Advances in the laser assisted transformation of diamond into amorphous-carbon has enabled the production of 
a new type of particle detector - 3D diamond. When compared to conventional planar technologies, previous work has proven 
a 3D geometry to improve the radiation tolerance of detectors fabricated in silicon. This work demonstrates the same 
principle in diamond, with the aim of producing an accurate particle detector tolerant to extreme radiation fields. I shall 
present the latest fabrication methods, including the use of a spatial light modulator to produce a 3D array of ~1um diameter 
low resistivity electrodes, and discuss the fabrication of several devices in both single-crystal and polycrystalline CVD 
diamond. In order to optimise the 3D geometry, devices were fabricated with various cell geometries, measurements obtained 
from various beams, and simulation studies performed, all of which shall be presented. Having successful demonstrated the 
3D diamond technology on a small scale (detectors with ~10x10 cells), the aim now is to increase the size of detectors by 
an order of magnitude and ultimately move to a pixel readout in preparation for the high luminosity LHC upgrade. The first 
results obtained from large area 3D diamond detectors shall be presented. Outside the field of high energy particle physics, 
a potential application for this technology includes medical dosimetry; where the high resilience to radiation damage, 
operation at low bias voltage with well defined active volume, in addition to high compatibility to human tissue, makes 
their use desirable. I shall present the first results obtained with 3D diamond detectors for dosimetry applications.