STREAM · Smart Sensor Technologies and Training for Radiation Enhanced Applications and Measurements

Smart Sensor Technologies and Training for Radiation Enhanced Applications andMeasurements

STREAM targets the development of innovative radiation-hard, smart CMOS sensor technologies for scientific and industrial applications to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers (ESR) and widen their academic career and employment opportunities. The STREAM consortium is composed of 11 research organisations and 6 industrial partners; the network provided training to 17 ESRs. The project develops CMOS sensor technology to meet the demanding conditions posed by basic research like the ambitious LHC scientific programme at CERN, as well as industrial applications such as radiation hard X-ray, electron detectors and environmental sensors. STREAM structures the research and training in four scientific work-packages, which span the whole value-chain from research to application: CMOS Technologies Assessment, Smart Sensor Design and Layout, Validation and Qualification, Technology Integration, and Valorisation. The focus of the scientific work in STREAM was the development of radiationhard CMOS sensors for scienctific and industrial use. The main research goal of STREAM was to develop electronics circuits and process optimizations to make commercially available CMOS imaging technologies radiation hard to levels of 100 Mrad total ionizing dose (TID) /1015 neq/cm2 non-ionizing energy loss (NIEL). This goal was achieved by the partners and fellows of STREAM through the combination of novel designs and process optimization implemented in a large range of monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS). The designs and processing were developed in close cooperation with CMOS foundries, who produced the sensors in three major CMOS imaging technologies with node sizes of 150 nm to 180 nm. The qualification of the sensors was carried out by the STREAM partners in irradiation tests, electronic tests and tests with charged particle and photo/X-ray detectors. To conclude: STREAM has successfully demonstrated for the first time that monolithic CMOS pixel sensors can be made radiation hard to 100 Mrad TID /1015 neq/cm2 (NIEL) and operate fully efficient with low noise as charged particle detectors for applications in science and industry.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union