Performance of 3-D architecture silicon sensors after intense proton irradiation

Silicon detectors with a three-dimensional architecture, in which the n- and p-electrodes penetrate through the entire substrate, have been successfully fabricated. The electrodes can be separated from each other by distances that are less than the substrate thickness, allowing short collection paths, low depletion voltages, and large current signals from rapid charge collection. While no special hardening steps were taken in this initial fabrication run, these features of three dimensional architectures produce an intrinsic resistance to the effects of radiation damage. Some performance measurements are given for detectors that are fully depleted and working after exposures to proton beams with doses equivalent to that from slightly more than ten years at the B-layer radius (50 mm) in the planned Atlas detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.