Study of breakdown effects in silicon multiguard structures

The purpose of this work is to study layout solutions aimed at increasing the breakdown voltage in silicon micro-strip detectors. Several structures with multiple floating guards in different configurations have been designed and produced on high-resistivity silicon wafers. The main electrical characteristics of these devices have been measured before and after irradiation. Both radiation-induced surface and bulk damage effects were considered as well. The highest breakdown voltage was found on devices featuring p/sup +/ guards without field plates. A simulation study has been carried out on simplified structures to evaluate the distribution of the breakdown field as a function of the guard layout. The aim was design optimization.