We present a concept to improve the spatial resolution of silicon pixel-detectors via the implementation of a sub-pixel cross-coupling, which introduces directional charge sharing between pixels. The charge-collection electrode is segmented into sub-pixels and each sub-pixel is coupled to the closest sub-pixel of the neighboring pixel. Such coupling schema is evaluated for a model sensor design with 50μm×50μm pixels and AC-coupled sub-pixels. A first-order SPICE simulation is used, to determine feasible coupling strengths and assess the influence on the charge-collection efficiency. The impact of the coupling strength on spatial resolution is studied with a dedicated simulation, taking into account charge-cloud evolution, energy-loss straggling, electronic noise, and the charge detection-threshold. Using simplifying assumptions, such as perpendicular tracks and no gaps between charge-collection electrodes, an improvement of the spatial resolution by up to approximately 30% is obtained in comparison to the standard planar pixel layout.
@article{arxiv.1912.01902,
title = {Improving the Spatial Resolution of Silicon Pixel Detectors through Sub-pixel Cross-coupling},
author = {Sinuo Zhang and David-Leon Pohl and Tomasz Hemperek and Jochen Dingfelder},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1912.01902},
year = {2020}
}