Comparison of Silvaco and Synopsys TCAD Predictions Including the Perugia Radiation Damage Model in Silicon Pixel Detectors for the HL-LHC

Abstract

At the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), silicon pixel detectors will be exposed to radiation fluences about 5 to 10 times larger than those experienced by the current innermost pixel layers up to today. Due to radiation damage to bulk of pixel detectors, leakage current and depletion voltage will increase significantly over time, posing severe constraints on operating conditions, with important modifications to the electric field profile due to radiation induced deep defects in silicon bulk. It is important to have reliable predictions for all observables - such as leakage current level and breakdown voltage - after irradiation, in order to estimate operational voltage values. In this paper, the predictions of Silvaco and Synopsys TCAD device simulations are compared when the surface and bulk defects and traps of the ``New University of Perugia radiation damage model'' are included by studying observables like leakage current, depletion and breakdown voltage, along with electric field and trap occupancy profiles. The results are quite promising regarding leakage current, depletion voltage, electric field and trap statistics, at two distinct reference temperatures and fluences.