Simulation and testing of thin microstrip silicon dosimeters for the microbeam radiation therapy

The Micro-Beam Radiation Therapy (MRT) is a promising newly emerged cancer treatment currently under development at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. Several safety requirements must be complied with, prior to the human clinical trials of the MRT such as the ability to send a signal to the emergency beam shutter in case of any beam anomalies, in order to avoid exposing the patient to excess radiation. This will require a beam monitor that can work under the demanding operating conditions of the MRT. A good candidate for this application is a silicon strip detector. A novel device layout has been proposed and numerical simulations were performed to carry out the optimisation of design and fabrication at SINTEF MiNaLab, Oslo, Norway. Simulation results and preliminary electrical measurements on wafer level are reported and discussed.